U.N. Agency Gives Boost to WiMax

PARIS, Oct. 19 - The United Nations telecommunications agency in Geneva gave the upstart technology called WiMax a vote of approval, providing a sizable victory for Intel and something of a defeat for competing technologies from Qualcomm and Ericsson.

The International Telecommunication Union's radio assembly agreed late Thursday to include WiMax, a wireless technology that allows Internet and other data connections across much broader areas than Wi-Fi, as part of what is called the third-generation family of mobile standards.

That endorsement opens the way for many of the union's member countries to devote a part of the public radio spectrum to WiMax, and receivers for it could be built into laptop computers, phones, music players and other portable devices.

Unlike Wi-Fi, this mobile Internet technology can hand off a signal from antenna to antenna, thus allowing a device to hold a connection while in motion. WiMax potentially can move data at 70 megabits a second across 65 kilometers, or 40 miles. Current fixed-line broadband connections have speeds of about 2 megabits a second.

The approval, which came in the form of a consensus of the radio assembly ahead of the World Radiocommunication Conference next week in Geneva, gives WiMax a leg up on Ultra Mobile Broadband, an alternative technology from Qualcomm, and Long-Term Evolution, an equivalent from Ericsson.

Intel has been promoting and investing in WiMax for the last three years and led "a pretty substantial amount of lobbying" to prove its case and get the union's stamp on the technology, said Sriram Viswanathan, vice president of Intel Capital, the company's strategic investment program, and general manager of its WiMax business.

The radio technology is the first to be added to the specifications for third-generation radio standards since the union approved them a decade ago.

Even before the union's endorsement, WiMax had been gathering momentum with Intel's weight behind it. Lenovo, Acer and a few other makers of personal computers recently committed to using Intel's WiMax chips, which are expected to reach the market in May. Nokia said last month that it would make its N-series of tablet devices with WiMax when they go on sale next year.

Japan, Britain and Switzerland have scheduled auctions in the coming months to allocate licenses in the radio frequency in which WiMax operates, 2.5 to 2.69 gigahertz.

But WiMax is not universally cheered. Gary D. Forsee resigned as chief executive of Sprint Nextel last week amid doubts about his strategy, which includes billion to roll out a commercially unproven WiMax network. Sprint Nextel's WiMax partner, Clearwire, introduced an access card this week for laptops for its high-speed network.

Qualcomm said Friday that it "remains dedicated" to providing the technologies, including WiMax, that its operators choose.