Alcatel is using the 3GSM World Congress 2006 to establish itself as an early mobile WiMax solution leader. The company unveiled its Evolium WiMax base station, based on the IEEE 802.16e-2005 standard (formerly known as 802.16e, but the name was changed after the December 2005 draft approval). The base station will be available for commercial network deployments starting mid-2006.

Alcatel's Evolium supports fixed, nomadic, and mobile usage. The company makes the case that, in the developing world, the solution will help meet the growing need for affordable VoIP-based telephony, high-speed Internet access, and community services, especially in areas where no fixed broadband network exists. In more developed markets, Alcatel's solution will complement fixed and mobile networks, enabling operators to extend their service reach for broadband applications such as mobile Internet, video, gaming, and mobile office.

Alcatel is an active member of the WiMAX Forum and it has been has been working on mobile WiMax for a while. Alcatel and Intel have teamed up to pursue comarketing activities to boost the WiMax market take-off by examining real-life usage models and assessing end-user behavior (see Intel's involvement in the Folsom WiMax warm zone project).

For more on Alcatel's mobile WiMax move:
- see this Xeuronext report