Nokia takes its Time with Mobile WiMAX

January 31, 2006

Even with the new mobile WiMAX specification confirmed by the IEEE, and the first compatible products already gaining approval, Nokia has elected to wait a couple of years before making its entrance into this advanced new market.

Nokia executives believe that the WiMAX technology as a whole, which is complementary to the shorter range Wi-Fi standard, is beginning to take off, but that the 802.16e mobile WiMAX standard likely won’t take off until the year 2008.

“Wide area coverage with WiMax from a cost perspective is tricky, and the business case is not there yet,” said Nokia’s VP of radio networks marketing, Robin Lindahl.

Another executive, Mikko Salminen, compared the market for mobile WiMAX to that of Wi-Fi, which Nokia began promoting back in 1999. Many believe that this was a mistake, as the large-scale demand for Wi-Fi hardware didn’t really pick up until about 2003.

If the market for mobile WiMAX develops well over the next two years, Nokia plans to begin seriously working with this technology. Until then, however, they are content to watch and wait until the timing is just right.