4G device requirements
For 4G/LTE to be optimally successful, it is essential that the handset be as easy to use for content display as possible. The value of the device also must be so high overall that users will tolerate some lack of visual quality to keep a single device for their mobile and migratory missions.
For Wimax to be optimally successful, there must be a considerable improvement in visual quality of experience versus smartphones, and there must be a strong level of integration between smartphone and migratory tablet services so users can be comfortable having only their tablet/netbook device with them while "migrating."
The latter point appears to validate the notion that 4G deployment in any market other than an emerging economy would probably need to be offered through a current mobile provider and integrated with mobile services in some way. So for Wimax to offer a "better" strategy than LTE for 4G in developed markets, the notion of a migratory user must be well established.
Applicable value
Operator studies suggest that the migratory Wimax model is most valuable in cities with large student populations, areas where mass transit is used for commuting in preference to private automobiles, and areas where online video usage has been well-socialized among wireline broadband users.
Where there is a strong wireline content appetite, sustaining that appetite in other places where the user may relax is far easier. On the other hand, in locations where much of the population commutes by car, where the user is older and less likely to view content online at home, and where a large segment of the population of a service area may be moving in from a different area, the mobile-evolution or LTE model is easiest to validate.
Tom Nolle is president of CIMI Corporation
This article originally appeared on SearchTelecom