China Unicom Confirms WiMAX Construction, Prospects Remain Unclear

Although the four major telecom operators are tacitly conducting WiMAX trials, specific investment and scale remain a sensitive topic.

Yesterday, sources revealed that China Unicom had started WiMAX trials much earlier. In March this year, as China Unicom holds 3.5G frequency licenses, it planned deployments across 21 provinces with such licenses, with total investment approaching RMB 70 million, aiming to build a fixed WiMAX network and completing a related feasibility report.

A China Unicom spokesperson confirmed to the China Business News that the company is building a WiMAX network, but declined to disclose the investment amount. The spokesperson repeatedly emphasized that this is only a trial network involving the 802.16d standard, i.e., fixed WiMAX.

According to previously disclosed information, China Netcom's WiMAX trials were mainly conducted in southern cities such as Hunan and Guangdong, with network coverage reaching province-wide scale. China Telecom also conducted trials in nine northern provinces and one municipality. China Mobile recently announced it would build a WLAN+WiMAX network to supplement 3G during the Olympic Games.

Norson Telecom analyst Dong Xiaoyang stated that China Unicom's purpose in building WiMAX is mainly to assess whether it can interconnect with its existing 165 and 163 networks with shared base stations, and whether WiMAX can serve high-end communities, SME business applications, and other industry applications.

However, Dong Xiaoyang noted that China Unicom's trial network has now largely stalled, because there are essentially no mature business models in China that WiMAX can draw upon, and operators' investment decisions are becoming increasingly rational.

Industry experts pointed out that the fundamental reason operators remain so low-key about WiMAX is the legitimacy issue in China. For instance, the Ministry of Information Industry has never formally recognized the 3.5G frequency used for WiMAX development.

Currently, the relevant standard representing WiMAX, collectively referred to as fixed broadband wireless access technology, has been completed, but this standard has not been approved by the Ministry of Information Industry.

In addition, WiMAX has applied to the IMT-2000 international standards organization to become an international standard, although this move has faced opposition from the CDMA camp and China's TD camp.