Once again, we hear all about the WiMAX promise, yet I am still waiting for some concrete substance or proof of concept ready for the PUBLIC eye.

While WiMAX has been around for several years, it has seen slow adoption here in the United States. The reasoning behind this, says Aperto Networks’ director of product management Dean Chang, is business decisions on behalf of who owns the WiMAX spectrum.

In an interview with BetaNews on the cusp of the CTIA Wireless conference in Las Vegas, Chang said it is the wireless carriers who own much of the spectrum — namely Sprint Nextel and Verizon — and they are holding off for the mobile implementations of the technology. That isn’t due until 2007, he says.

However, the promise of mobile WiMAX is a compelling reason for these companies to wait. Instead of the slow uptick in data speeds currently offered through the migration to 3G, mobile WiMAX would offer an immediate boost to several megabits per second — true mobile broadband.

“You could call it 4G,” Chang explained. He said his company, Aperto Networks, sees the promise and likely lucrative business that mobile WiMAX brings. The company currently sells equipment for fixed WiMAX installations, and is planning to move into the mobility sector.

“It’s one of the natural evolutions” of the business, Chang added. Source: BetaNews