The world’s largest chipmaker Intel has not turned its back on WiMax, saying the technology still has strong potential in Africa.

New Intel SA country manager Videsha Proothveerajh says the company is still committed to the wireless technology despite its decision to shut down the WiMax programme office in Taiwan last month.

She says the closure was simply part a restructuring effort.

According to Proothveerajh, the first phase of Intel’s WiMax development was to educate customers on the technology’s value.

“We have done a lot of work on WiMax. We will now be moving onto its next evolution,” she says.

Intel has spent millions of dollars developing WiMax, most notably its investment in Clearwire, which is building a WiMax network across the US.

Intel has also developed integrated chipsets with WiMax technology. Few of these devices are available in SA, mainly because the structure of services does not fit the spectrum allocations needed to run a WiMax laptop.

SA telecoms providers are awaiting the outcome of a council meeting at the Independent communications Authority of SA on Tuesday to know whether an auction for spectrum for spectrum in the 2,6GHz and 3,5GHz bands will go ahead. The two bands are ideally suited for building networks using WiMax.

Proothveerajh says Intel hopes the SA spectrum auction will happen soon. When operators get services up and running, it will be able to bring more of its integrated devices to the local market, she says.

“If it gets done, it will be a big win for SA,” she says. “Other African countries have taken it up in a heartbeat and SA is really lagging behind.”

The available spectrum in SA can also be used for other high-speed broadband access technologies, most notably long-term evolution (LTE).

Intel has been criticised for its dedication to WiMax, which some believe is a dying technology.

However, Proothveerajh says the window of opportunity is not closed and the African market represents a good opportunity for the technology.

She says it is ideal suited for use in rural areas where putting down cable infrastructure is problematic and expensive.

“It can be used as a bridging technology to LTE,” she says. “They can even work together.” — Candice Jones, TechCentral