BOCA RATON (WiMAX Day). WiMAX watchers who think there’s a secret plan by the WiMAX Forum to catch an FDD bullet train can put aside their datebooks.

The industry-led non-profit this week moved to squelch a flurry of press reports that suggested it will soon release a WiMAX profile for Frequency Division Duplex (FDD).

“Contrary to any of the unofficial statements made recently, the WiMAX Forum has not made any Board-approved policy or determination of when FDD mobile WiMAX system or certification profiles will be created,” said Ron Resnick, president and chairman of the WiMAX Forum.

WiMAX system profiles define technology attributes that allow for the interoperability of a variety of WiMAX products. Currently, most WiMAX profiles use Time Division Duplex (TDD), where one frequency band is used for both sending and receiving.

FDD is a method of radio transmission common amongst mobile carriers using paired spectrum wherein sending and receiving are separated between the two spectrum pairs.

According to Resnick, the WiMAX Forum has been only exploring profiles for FDD certification. “No decision has yet been made when to propose an FDD evolution of the WiMAX IMT-2000 air interface to the ITU.”

Resnick added that “nor has it been decided what specific profile might be proposed by the WiMAX Forum in the future.”

Similar concern was expressed by Paul Senior, CTO of Airspan Networks, to clear any confusion. He was recently quoted in a number of publications as saying that the WiMAX Forum will have an FDD profile for mobile WiMAX inside of six months.

Senior told WiMAX Day, however, that these articles “confused statements I made as the CTO of Airspan Networks, with the official position I have with the WiMAX Forum.” Senior is also a director of the WiMAX Forum.

As for Airspan’s work with FDD, Senior told WiMAX Day what he meant by “six months.”

“As a WiMAX vendor we can’t develop equipment until a system profile is available. Work in the WiMAX Forum on an FDD system profile for mobile WiMAX is underway and I estimate that it will take about another six months before a vendor like Airspan can start work on developing products – without a risk that things would change significantly.”

The most significant development hurdles are for CPEs and devices, Senior said. “Most of them today are optimised around TDD. FDD is a different problem.” Nonetheless, he added, “We are confident that FDD mobile WiMAX products can be in the market before the end of 2009.”

Generally, vendors committed to WiMAX regard the development of FDD solutions for WiMAX as important because it will allow the technology to be more competitive, especially in the IMT spectrum range.

“Airspan believes that FDD mobile WiMAX products would be an important development for the WiMAX industry and would allow WiMAX to compete with LTE, which is primarily aimed at FDD spectrum allocations,” Senior said. “Today there is more FDD spectrum than TDD.”

Resnick, meanwhile, said that the WiMAX Forum supports technological neutrality for all spectrum, regardless of TDD and FDD. “It is our belief that operators should be able to decide what best suits their market requirements.” Looking ahead, Resnick said the WiMAX Forum will consider additional TDD and FDD profiles on request from members and administrators.