(InfoWorld Daily via NewsEdge) Mobile WiMAX will be rolled out in China, following Samsung's shipment of mobile WiMAX equipment to one customer in the country.
The company is in talks with a second customer about supplying similar equipment, a company executive said.
'I cannot disclose any names,' said Hwan Woo Chung, a VP at Samsung's Mobile WiMAX Group, speaking at a conference in Singapore. 'You will see early next year what will happen there.'
The first customer will not roll out a national mobile WiMAX network, instead using the technology for 'special applications' in several provinces, Chung said, declining to comment further on the deal. Mobile WiMAX is currently used to provide commercial services in South Korea and is being rolled out elsewhere.
Service providers in China today have few options for mobile data services, as the government has yet to issue licenses for 3G mobile services.
Samsung was one of the first companies to offer mobile WiMAX technology, which is capable of downlink speeds up to 10.2Mbps while traveling at 120kph.
By the third quarter of next year, Samsung expects to push downlink speeds higher, to a maximum of nearly 40Mbps.
Samsung signed more than 20 contracts for mobile WiMAX trial networks during 2006, and has dozens more under negotiation, Chung said.
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