In Pakistan, the WiMax (World-wide Interoperability for Microwave Access) story began with a bang when Wateen rolled out its WiMax offering in collaboration with Motorola, with an aim of providing Pakistan with the "worlds largest" WiMax network.
Joining Wateen on the bandwagon is Mobilink with its Infinity package and the new comer Wi-Tribe, an exclusively wireless service company, owned by Qatar Telecom, ATTCO and Clearwire. With every major telecom introducing its very own brand of WiMax services, the time has come to determine whether or not WiMax truly is the technology that will close the digital divide in Pakistan.
Keeping the lack of excitement with CDMA technology in mind, would WiMax really be the next Big Thing? In the benefits corner, we have the fact that WiMax technology works quite efficiently if the subscriber falls within the range covered by the network, the coverage is much larger than for Wi-fi and technology does not require any overly-intrusive underground work or wiring through public areas.
Lastly, WiMax services are available on 3G cellular handsets, which are, indubitably, less expensive than PCs or laptops; all very good reasons to get excited about WiMax technology. In theory, WiMax has a great many advantages with the main disadvantage being its costs.
Furthermore, Wimax technology has often been touted as the solution for getting the Internet to the rural areas and use in spreading knowledge and education to hard to reach areas Considering the deep penetration of cell phones in Pakistan and deficiency of PCs, WiMax may be the technology to do so.
The problem right now seems to be that charges for WiMax are currently too high for the average Pakistani consumer. A problem that may go away in the future if the cost of technology lowers, leaving WiMax to be an excellent prospect for telecoms.
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