WiMAX wins ITU backing as IMT-2000 tech

High fives all round at the WiMAX Forum today as the ITU approves WiMAX 802.16 as an IMT-2000 3G technology standard. The move has the potential to allow WiMAX deployments to occupy globally allocated frequency bands and complement or compete with other 3G technologies.

This is a major deal for the WiMAX camp and depending on how talks go at the World Radio Conference (WRC-07), which kicks off next week, there could potentially be a merger of the IMT-2000 and IMT-advanced technology categories into a single category, thereby giving any IMT-2000 technology access to bands reserved for IMT-advanced – or 4G – and levelling out the playing field between WiMAX and the other mobile technologies quite significantly.