Seoul, Korea, February 12, 2009 – Samsung Electronics, a leading provider of telecom systems, announced that its Mobile WiMAX product was one of the first products to receive WiMAX Forum 3.5 GHz certification today. About two thirds of WiMAX operators worldwide own 3.5GHz spectrum band, providing or preparing WiMAX service now.
Samsung became the first Mobile WiMAX system provider to possess all three bands of certification from the WiMAX Forum®, including 2.3GHz (Wave1) and 2.5GHz (Wave 2) equipment certifications in 2008.
WiMAX Forum is an industry-led, not-for-profit organization formed to certify and promote the compatibility and interoperability of broadband wireless products based upon the harmonized IEEE 802.16/ETSI HiperMAN standard.
Samsung’s certified product is U-RAS Flexible base station, which is a commercial grade Mobile WiMAX Wave 2 system for macro coverage. Its separated design of Radio unit and Digital unit is most suitable for flexible Mobile WiMAX network configuration, and especially 1 Digital unit supports up to 6 Radio units. U-RAS Flexible also guarantees to minimize cable loss with providing optic interface between Digital unit and Radio unit.
Samsung is providing 3.5GHz base stations for Lithuania’s first Mobile WiMAX commercial service by Lithuania Radio & TV centre Inc. in Q1 2009.
“Certification is one of the most important steps in building a global WiMAX ecosystem that is interoperable and will enable our ability to accelerate global roaming” said Ron Resnick, President and Chairman of the WiMAX Forum. “Samsung’s strides in certification set an example for the WiMAX industry and provides operators with quality WiMAX Forum Certified products they need to make their networks a success.” he added.
Woonsub Kim, Executive Vice President and head of Telecom Systems Division in Samsung Electronics, said “We are very pleased to possess the Mobile WiMAX 3.5 GHz certification by successfully passing all rigorous certification tests of WiMAX Forum. We see Mobile WiMAX is opening the door to the real mobile broadband era, we will make great effort to expand Mobile WiMAX market across the world.”
Samsung has already achieved numerous accomplishments in deployment of Mobile WiMAX technology around the globe. Clearwire in US and Scartel in Russia launched mobile WiMAX commercial service in 2008 and many operators in the world, including UQ Communications in Japan, are ready to provide commercial service in this year. WiMAX Forum forecasts more than 133 million subscribers will use Mobile WiMAX in 2012.