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Cell C forced to end WiMax trials

By Dave Glazier, ITWeb journalist
Johannesburg, 26 Sept 2006

SA`s smallest cellular operator, Cell C, has been forced to discontinue its trials of wireless broadband technology WiMax.

The Independent Communications Authority of SA (ICASA) recently made a decision to allow only fixed-line operators access to the 3.5GHz frequency spectrum. Since the beginning of the year, Cell C had been using this frequency for its WiMax trials.

"ICASA will allocate the 3.5GHz frequency spectrum to the fixed-line operators only - Telkom, Neotel and Sentech," says base station subsystems engineering manager at Cell C, Jitesh Huri.

"But we`ve not lost focus on the issue," he assures, explaining that Cell C has applied to the regulator for access to 2.6GHz, a space used by Sentech for various operations.

The mobile operator will also petition the regulator to again be allowed access to the 3.5GHz band, says Huri. He has no idea when the regulator will make a decision.

Aside from regulatory certainty, Cell C says it is still waiting for "16e" equipment (formally known as the WiMax Forum`s certified IEEE 802.16e standard) to become commercially available locally.

While a variety of telecoms companies were involved in Cell C`s WiMax trials, Huri indicates the non-availability of the equipment would hold back any thoughts of Cell C bringing a WiMax service to the market, even if there was a spectrum in which to test the technology.

"It`s not just a base station issue, but also a device issue," he says.

During the trials, Huri said the speeds possible using pre-WiMax equipment were considerably faster than ADSL, with downlink peaks of 14Mbps.

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