Report: Wireless Data's Future Is 3G, Wi-Fi, WiMAX Combo

With wireless service providers and equipment manufacturers attempting to sort out the future course of mobile broadband data, some say the “right combination of 3G, WiMAX and Wi-Fi" will be needed to achieve the most success.

There will be an important role for WiMAX to fill as the move to wireless multimedia grows, the Rysavy Research and Datacomm Research Company said Monday.

“WiMAX must become the global standard for a wide range of fixed, nomadic, and backhaul applications,” the St. Louis-based market research firm stated. “WiMAX can succeed, but only if vendors execute perfectly. In mobile markets, WiMAX operators must employ low-cost, high-density base station architectures to deliver superior capacity and in-building penetration.”

The report was written by Rysavy president Peter Rysavy, who said CDMA wireless technologies will dominate mobile technology for the next several years, but these 3G systems still won’t be able to meet demand.

With two billion wireless subscribers already active, Rysavy noted that no single network technology can solve all market needs. Thus, pressure will build to implement additional solutions including Wi-Fi and WiMAX. The two latter technologies, however, are often not embraced by traditional service providers.“The only way to support more broadband users is to offload multimedia traffic onto mobile broadcast networks and to employ more densely deployed wireless networks whether 3G, WiMAX or Wi-Fi,” the report stated.

Rysavy added that the 3G and WiMAX communities will have to aggressively work to improve smart base station antenna systems and MIMO (Multiple-Input Multiple-Output) solutions.