A group of Internet service providers have assembled together to pledge roaming interoperability of next-generation commercial WiMAX networks.

 

The WiMAX Spectrum Owners Alliance (WiSOA) on Thursday announced it has conducted an inaugural meeting in Paris and has launched with Unwired Australia, Network Plus Mauritius, UK Broadband, Irish Broadband, Austar Australia/Liberty Group, Telecom New Zealand, WiMAX Telecom Group, Enertel, and Woosh Telecom as founding members. The group claims to be the first global organization composed exclusively of companies that own spectrum and operate services in the WiMAX bands.

 

In a press release, WiSOA also said it plans to enter into international WiMAX roaming agreement by December to cover all WiMAX services and operate in all WiMAX frequency ranges. The agreement will act as the backbone of a future global WiMAX network and adheres to the IEEE (News - Alert) 802.16e standard.

 

“WiMAX is a disruptive technological breakthrough in the telecommunications sector, and will deliver personal broadband to enable users to access the Web, make telephone calls, watch videos and play music,” said Steve R. Cosser, chairman of WiSOA. “WiSOA was established to facilitate the adoption of WiMAX globally, and with its exclusive membership of spectrum owners only, is in a unique position to do so.”

 

The group said the importance of global roaming has been proven with GSM. Today, there are 25,000 roaming agreements worldwide generating over $25 billion in revenue every year.

 

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Robert Liu is Executive Editor at TMCnet. Previously, he was Executive Editor at Jupitermedia and has also written for CNN, A&E, Dow Jones and Bloomberg. For more articles, please visit Robert Liu's columnist page.