CHICAGO — WiMAX is technologically and economically positioned to be all broadband things to most markets, Padmasree Warrior, chief technology officer for Motorola, told the WiMAX World audience today.
 
Because of its ability to offer "affordable, always on-demand personal broadband," WiMAX can serve metro and rural markets in developed and developing nations and even complement other wireless technologies, she said. It will enable applications as basic as Internet access (in places it doesn't exist today) and voice-over-IP and those as sophisticated as making TV-watching a social networking experience that spans continents.

Speaking the morning after Motorola successfully demonstrated mobile WiMAX in a tourist cruise boat going up the Chicago river — an environment dubbed harsh — Warrior called out successful deployments in Germany, The Netherlands, Pakistan and the U.S. to prove her point about WiMAX versatility.
 
In Pakistan, where broadband penetration is 3%, WiMAX is being used to bring Internet access to 17 cities, while in Germany, utility company Neckarom is using WiMAX to enter the telecom market and serve rural areas where DSL is too expensive. In the Netherlands, where connectivity flourishes, WiMAX is being deployed as a wholesale offering for business services, while in the U.S., Sprint is preparing to launch its Xohm mobile broadband service.
 
"WiMAX has the perfect characteristics and economic characteristics to meet the needs of [all of these] markets," Warrior said.

Recognizing that many service providers have already deployed 3G networks that they don't want to immediately replace, Warrior said WiMAX can be used as an overlay on those networks to extend reach and bandwidth. It can even provide a way to learn more about the requirements for what may come next, such as long-term evolution technology, she said, by advancing some of the underlying systems they will require.
 
As more consumers access video-on-demand, it will even become a means for video services, she said.