Plans Announced For North America's First Commercial Mobile WIMAX Deployment
At the annual CTIA WIRELESS 2006 trade show in Las Vegas, Samsung Telecommunications America unveiled its plans to work with regional service provider Arialink to deploy the first commercial Mobile WiMAX network in North America . Samsung plans to provide its suite of WiMAX-ready products, as well as installation, training and product support, enabling Arialink to commercially launch Mobile WiMAX in Muskegon County, Mich., in early 2007.
Samsung will be the exclusive provider of Mobile WiMAX services for Arialink in the Muskegon County region and is slated to be the first technology solutions provider to deploy commercial Mobile WiMAX in North America. Samsung has enacted similar trials and plans for Mobile WiMAX deployment in Europe and Asia .
Samsung's suite of WiMAX-ready products ushers in the age of converged services delivered from a single, IP-based network. Home, business, and vehicular applications can include Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP), video telephony, multimedia messaging and conferencing, location and telematic services, broadcast, and multimedia push and demand services.
Mobile WiMAX will drive revenue through delivery of broadband services to rural and suburban locations not accessible by current technology as well as creating broadband “hot zones” in more densely populated areas.
This project will fulfill Arialink's commitment to provide network services to underserved areas and to enhance broadband service choices throughout Muskegon county. The state of Michigan is providing financial backing for the project as part of the Digital Divide Investment Program.
“Arialink is pleased to be working with Samsung toward the first commercial Mobile WiMAX deployment in the country ,” said Jason Schreiber, Arialink Broadband president. “Mobile WiMAX will change the way customers think about telecommunications services, and we're thrilled to be able to connect our county residents to the new services and applications Mobile WiMAX enables.”
Samsung believes that Muskegon County 's pilot network and eventual regional deployment of Mobile WiMAX will have larger implications.
“ Samsung is dedicated to enhancing the wireless experience for consumers, as is evident in this landmark plan,” said Jeong Han Kim, president, Samsung Telecommunications America. “ The regional deployment of Mobile WiMAX will help strengthen the momentum toward ongoing development of WiMAX services throughout the U.S. and beyond.”
Samsung has showcased the WiMAX-ready products at the CTIA WIRELESS 2006 show in Las Vegas.
Source: Samsung
