Realising the WiMAX Opportunity in the Middle East

This paper describes the technical and business planning that is required for an effective commercial WiMAX deployment. It is based on our experience of winning the licence to build and operate a national WiMAX network in the Kingdom of Bahrain. Although specific to WiMAX technology, the major part of the work described here was not technical; the small size of Bahrain made the radio planning requirements relatively straightforward. Instead, the focus is on the development of the network operator´s business plan through the modelling of demand and the definition of marketable services that can be supported over the WiMAX based infrastructure In addition to specific observations from our experience n Bahrain, we also discuss the more general opportunities for WiMAX as a technical option for building sustainable business