ITU contribution to WiMax standardization

ITU launched the program of International Mobile Telecommunications in 2000 (IMT-2000) for third generation (3G) wireless networks defined by a set of independent ITU Recommendations. In 2006 IEEE proposed to ITU to include WiMax in IMT-2000 as IP-OFDMA, based on IEEE 802.16-2004, IEEE 802.16e-2005 and Release 1.0 of the WiMax Forum. ITU approved of that addition in 2007. Later on , the IEEE 802.16-2009 and WiMax Forum Release 1.5 were used for more up to date features (for example, the frequency division duplexing). ITU published a new version, the IMT Advanced in 2007, where the WiMax standard was again included and in December 2010 WiMax was regarded as a fourth generation (4G) technology by the ITU (along with Long Term Evolution-LTE and High Speed Packet Access Plus-HSPA+) [19].

Even though at the first glance the ITU standardization may not occur to have obvious advantages, the truth is far from this. The standardization itself can be conducted by the IEEE and the WiMax Forum, but the recognition from the ITU added international credibility and global reputation, at the same level with HSPA and Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA) . Furthermore, part of the spectrum (especially around the 2.5 GHz) allocated for the IMT-2000 technologies can now be used by WiMax, as it belongs to them [7].