WiMax gets ITU approval for 3G wireless mobile

The International Telecommunication Union embraces WiMax.

WiMax broadband technology is approved by the International Telecommunication Union as acceptable for third-generation wireless mobile communications. The approval will grant European wireless radio spectrum to WiMax.

The ITU decision will offer WiMax technologies in Europe with new potential growth in the markets. This marks the first time a new system has been added in over a decade. The United Kingdom and other European countries appear to be adopting a more neutral stance on radio spectrum similar to that of the United States.

WiMax, now a third-generation family of mobile standards, is good news for both Motorola and Intel but is something of a defeat for competing technologies from Qualcomm and Ericsson.

Unlike Wi-Fi, the new WiMax mobile Internet technology can hand off a signal from antenna to antenna, thus allowing a device to hold a connection while in motion. WiMax is also known by its name of reference number, IEEE 802.16, which can move data at 70 megabits a second across 65 kilometers, or 40 miles. Current fixed-line broadband connections have speeds of around two megabits a second.