WiMAX dongle set to boost market

The certification of Chinese vendor Huawei’s 802.16e USB dongle by the WiMAX Forum last week is an “industry milestone” and should give the mobile WiMAX market a significant boost in the near term.

So says Dean Bubley, founder of consulting firm Disruptive Analysis. “Given their track record of ramping up volumes, plus their enviable record at signing up distribution channels, the advent of the Huawei device signals to me that WiMAX is due to have one of its periodic upswings in confidence over the next few months,” Bubley notes.

The Huawei USB modem, dubbed B325, is designed to deliver access rates of up to 15Mbps on the downlink and 5Mbps on the uplink. It operates on mobile WiMAX networks running in the 2.5GHz-2.69GHz frequency band.

As Bubley points out, Huawei has got a strong track record in the USB dongle market with its hugely popular E220 modem device for HSDPA networks, which was launched as far back as mid-2006. This, he says, augurs well for the success of the Chinese vendor’s WiMAX USB dongle.

Samsung, Posdata, ZTE also have WiMAX USB dongles available, while South Korea’s C-Motech displayed what it claims to be world’s first dual mode mobile WiMAX/EV-DO USB at the CTIA Wireless 2008 event this month.

In related news, Motorola this week unveiled its first WiMAX USB adaptor, the USBw 100. This dongle is available in three versions to connect to WiMAX networks in each of the three bands approved for use around the world – 2.3GHz, 2.5GHz and 3.5 GHz. It is expected to be available in the fourth quarter.