Airspan, a WiMAX equipment supplier, defended the viability of its technology after Australian operator Buzz Broadband slammed WiMAX (News - Alert) deployments in that country as having ended disastrously. According to Airspan, the performance issues pointed out by Buzz were not its fault.

 

The controversy began at a WiMAX conference in Bangkok when Garth Freeman, CEO at Buzz Broadband (News - Alert), presented his take on WiMAX in a speech, saying the technology is still mired in opportunistic hype and isn’t ready for showtime yet, InfoWorld said in a recent report.

 

During the speech, Freeman also said reports indicated WiMAX performance in Australia was nonexistent beyond 2 kilometers from the base station, while indoor performance decayed at just 400 meters. Buzz has abandoned WiMAX in favor of other technologies, InfoWorld said.

 

Airspan shipped WiMAX equipment used by Buzz, but claims the operator’s technical and financial resources were inadequate to deploy a functioning network.

 

Airspan said that Buzz rejected outside help and also blames the operator for bad IP telephony because Buzz’s backhaul network was allegedly not built in a robust manner—due to cost-cutting measures—and that these factors were the direct cause of VoIP quality issues associated with the network, InfoWorld reported.

 

Airspan also said Buzz opted to go with the less-expensive micro-cell base stations in order to reduce cost, a move with well-understood trade-offs regarding range.

 

Declan Byrne, chief marketing officer at Airspan, commented that although Buzz's allegations are proving a distraction to the broader WiMAX industry, they can be easily brushed aside based on the allegations described here.

 

Gartner (News - Alert) analyst Martin Gutberlet.wasn’t surprised by the war of words between Buzz and Airspan, InfoWorld said. Arguments about performance issues are to be expected, as both vendors and carriers are still learning what WiMAX can and can't do. Nordic Nowire CEO Michael Blomqvist, also wasn’t surprised, and took the stance that Airspan should shoulder some of the blame.

 

Blomqvist called the mistakes made by Buzz “classic,” and said that the WiMAX vendors, Airspan included, need to a larger responsibility when it comes to educating carriers, InfoWorld said.

 

He added that vendors have over-hyped WiMAX, promising features and then not delivering. At the same time, WiMAX does offer a better price/performance ratio compared to competing mobile broadband technologies—when done right.