martyn_williams
Senior Correspondent

Samsung to deploy Mobile WiMax in Venezuela

news
Dec 19, 20052 mins

Company to deploy network in third-quarter of 2006

Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd. signed an agreement Friday with Venezuelan pay-TV and telecommunications operator Omnivision C.A. to deploy a mobile broadband service in the South American country, Samsung said Monday.

Samsung will begin deploying a Mobile WiMax-compatible network in the third quarter of 2006 and Omnivision plans to start offering service from the fourth quarter of the year in Caracas, the companies said in a statement. The service will be expanded to cover Venezuela’s 7 major cities during a three-year roll-out, they said.

The agreement follows a similar one signed in November by Samsung with TVA Sistema de Televisao SA in Brazil. Under that deal Samsung will supply a network that will enter trial service in the second quarter of 2006.

The South Korean company has been a leading developer of the WiBro wireless broadband standard. WiBro has been folded into the recently standardized Mobile WiMax 802.16e standard and is a subset of the technology. Whereas Mobile WiMax specifies a number of frequency bands and transmission bandwidths, WiBro covers just the 2.3GHz band and an 8.75MHz bandwidth, said Samsung. WiBro devices will be compatible with Mobile WiMax systems, the company said.

Commercial WiBro service in South Korea is due to begin in the middle of 2006. Samsung recently demonstrated the technology to regional leaders at the APEC (Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation) meeting that took place in Busan, South Korea, in November.