The International Telecommunication Union last week put the seal of approval on WiMAX, accepting the technology into the IMT-2000 family of 3G standards. The deal has little impact on North America (except maybe to mess with everyone's attempts to bill WiMAX as "4G") since U.S. and Canadian regulators don't follow the ITU's cues. But there are bigger machinations at work here.

By lumping WiMAX into IMT-2000, the ITU is essentially saying that carriers can launch WiMAX in their 3G spectrum alongside Wideband CDMA technologies. While we here in the good ol' USA launch whatever technologies wherever we want -- hence our mishmash of TDMA, CDMA, iDEN and now WiMAX networks -- Europe and the rest of the world don't have such a luxury. Putting WiMAX in current 3G spectrum or future 2.5 GHz and 2.6 GHz spectrum being tapped for 3G expansion is a big deal.

That doesn't necessarily mean carriers will deploy WiMAX spectrum in those bands. Remember, CDMA was named an IMT-2000 3G technology, and many operators forewent the technology for the more familiar UMTS. But if some carriers bite, the potential WiMAX ecosystem could explode. (Yes, I said "ecosystem." It's a marketing term, but I've got nothing better.) Sprint and Clearwire are doing their best to build a market for Mobile WiMAX, but a worldwide wave of WiMAX operators harmonized on the same frequencies would produce awesome economies of scale -- something the U.S. has never been able to participate in part because of its spectrum choices.

And 2.5 GHz isn't the only opportunity for spectral world harmony here. The GSMA just called on the World Radio Communication Conference to open up TV UHF bands for broadband services, something the U.S. has already done. Depending on where that spectrum falls, we could suddenly have harmonization at 700 MHz, creating another potential WiMAX inflection point.

An interesting side effect of such a movement, though, would be a bunch of vendors in awfully prickly positions. Nokia Siemens Networks and Alcatel-Lucent have played both sides of the WiMAX/HSPA debate, claiming each technology offers a different spectral niche in the overall frequency map. They sell 3G and the promise of LTE to their 3G license holders and WiMAX to operators with spectrum not designated for IMT-2000 technologies. If WiMAX can put down fences wherever 3G roams, they suddenly have a marketing problem.

Added Note: As you'll notice from the top stories of the newsletter, CTIA Wireless IT & Entertainment is happening, and I'm at it. I like this show -- it's the one opportunity for me not to focus on infrastructure. (I met Master P! So be sure to check out TelephonyOnline.com for the latest news.)

Contact me at kfitchard@telephonyonline.com.