PCCW Wants To Switch To WiMax When Mobility Is Here

In a story that fits well with the one below about Nextel's Flarion trials, Faultline has some details about PCCW's UMTS TDD offerings in the UK. You may recall that PCCW wireless broadband in the UK back in May, and some reporters claimed it was WiMax, when the reality was that it was IP Wireless' UMTS-TDD technology instead (something IP Wireless later scrambled to have mentioned after the fact). However, PCCW is apparently now telling reporters that they're being quiet about TDD because they want to switch to WiMax -- but realize that TDD is a better solution right now, mainly because of the mobility component. So, until WiMax 802.16e (the mobility version of WiMax) comes around, they're sticking with TDD. Once again, it's the mobility that matters. Of course, it's also interesting to note that Vodafone is suggesting they may complain if PCCW were to offer mobility services with the spectrum they now own, as they believe it would be competitive with the various 3G services they plan to offer. PCCW basically responds by saying "it's our spectrum, and we'll do what we want with it," which is probably the right response. Derek: This sounds a little off...OFTEL, the British regulator, forbids the use of the mobile capability of the PCCW UK Broadband Netvigator network. Mobility, therefore, cannot be the motivator to use UMTS TDD over WiMAX. The motivator is that WiMAX simply does not yet exist, while UMTS TDD has already worked through the bugs, and has commercial equipment available. Also, I have to say that the article by Faultline has its own faults: some sentences are started on the subject of WiMAX and ended on the subject of TDD, apparently without the writer's intention. The quotes from "Berriman" of PCCW contradict themselves, for example where he says PCCW has to wait until 802.16e enables mobility before offering mobility, but also says PCCW is using TDD which is mobility-ready. They actually have to manually "turn off" the mobility of UMTS TDD to meet the requirements of OFTEL. There's more digging to do here...

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