At an inaugural meeting in Paris, founding members
Unwired Australia, Network Plus Mauritius, UK Broadband, Irish
Broadband, Austar Australia/Liberty Group, Telecom New Zealand, WiMAX
Telecom Group, Enertel, and Woosh Telecom announced today the launch
of the WiMAX Spectrum Owners Alliance (WiSOA), the first global
organisation composed exclusively of companies that own spectrum and
operate services in the WiMAX bands. The work of WiSOA will be
fundamental to connecting the next billion users to a worldwide WiMAX
broadband network.
WiMAX is the revolutionary, standards-based technology that
provides on-line, anytime, anywhere broadband to computers, PDAs and
mobile phones. Like GSM and CDMA, its strength lies in the fact that
it operates only in specified, licensed frequency bands aligned with
WiMAX technology. WiMAX enables fully mobile broadband access at very
high speeds to consumers anywhere in the world, and therefore has many
advantages when compared to other communications technologies.
WiSOA also announced its intention to sign the first international
WiMAX roaming agreement in December. This roaming agreement will cover
all WiMAX services and operate in all WiMAX frequency ranges. The
agreement will act as the backbone of a future global WiMAX network
and adheres to the 802.16e standards. The importance of global roaming
has been proven with GSM. Today there are 25,000 roaming agreements
worldwide generating over $25 billion in revenue every year.
"WiMAX is a disruptive technological breakthrough in the
telecommunications sector, and will deliver personal broadband to
enable users to access the Web, make telephone calls, watch videos and
play music," said Steve R. Cosser, chairman of WiSOA. "WiSOA was
established to facilitate the adoption of WiMAX globally, and with its
exclusive membership of spectrum owners only, is in a unique position
to do so."
WiSOA is an operator-driven alliance with clear commercial goals.
It has parallels with similar successful industry alliances such as
GSM-A and the cable and telephony industry associations. It will
complement the work of the WiMAX Forum and work closely with them to
accelerate WiMAX deployment worldwide.
About WiSOA
WiSOA represents the needs of those companies and organizations
that own and operate WiMAX spectrum. Its particular focus is on WiMAX
networks, most especially on resolving those issues related to the
definition and implementation of interoperable network infrastructure,
services and agreements. Founding members are: Unwired Australia,
Network Plus Mauritius, UK Broadband, Irish Broadband, Austar
Australia/Liberty Media, Telecom New Zealand, WiMAX Telecom Group,
Enertel and Woosh Telecom. WiSOA shares a number of the goals of the
WiMAX Forum, however WiSOA specifically exists to work to ensure that
the value of the licensed spectrum is fully realised by both
government bodies and investment institutions. For further
information, please subscribe to WiSOA's daily newsletter, WiMAX Day,
by visiting www.wisoa.com.
