BEIJING (WiMAX Day). Long before the Olympic torch will make its way to Beijing next year for the 29th Olympiad, the winner of the wireless broadband competition will have been decided. WiMAX is one of the main contenders for the gold medal.

During the Olympic Games, its organisers, security forces, competitors, broadcasters and spectators will place considerable demand upon the radio spectrum available in the arena. In January, the Beijing Olympic Radio Frequency Regulatory Office (ORRO) closed the first round of applications for temporary radio licenses that will be used to ensure a coordinated effort in frequency management.

Among the technologies vying for the spotlight is WiMAX. From consumer use to news broadcasting and security, local and foreign companies are anxious to showcase WiMAX as the best technology to support massive frequency consumption.

Telecom tussle
The glory appeared lost for WiMAX last month when several sources reported that China Netcom, the exclusive fixed-line telecoms partner for the 2008 Olympics, would use the “McWill” standard for wireless broadband during the games.

McWill is not a resolute fast-food delicacy, but rather a wireless protocol used in China known as Multicarrier Wireless Internet Local Loop. McWill is based on SCDMA technology and utilises 400 MHz frequencies.

The technology is backed by the Chinese telecoms ministry, and embraced by Xinwei Telecom Technology, a company that backed the standard in a bid for a stock exchange listing. While Xinwei has yet to deploy the technology, prior to its IPO last month, Wen Bin, vice president of technical marketing at Xinwei, said “We hope the Olympics will be the first commercial deployment.”

Sources tell WiMAX Day that China Netcom is being pressured by the telecoms ministry to support McWill in an effort to showcase Chinese technology during the Olympics. However, China Netcom has not officially announced its support for McWill and, like China Telecom, for the last year have been testing WiMAX extensively using 3.5 GHz radio spectrum.

All for the game
Following last month’s deadline for temporary frequencies, ORRO reported that it received an overwhelming number of applications for WiMAX services.

Supporting the cause for WiMAX in Beijing is the previous success of the technology at the winter Olympic games in Italy last year. WiMAX was used for security during the games, with portable units mounted in vehicles, on security personnel, and in stadiums.

Also pointing to the success of WiMAX for sporting events was the 15th Asian Games in Doha, Qatar in December, where a network deployed by Airspan for Qatar Telecom was used for Internet access, VoIP and multimedia transmissions.

With IT costs to support communications for the Beijing Olympics expected to sore to well over $1 billion, the competition for wireless broadband is not likely to award silver or bronze medals.