Sixteen WiMAX operators from around the world convened in Taipei this week to draft an international roaming agreement for their 4G networks. The WiMAX Forum Global Operator Summit, as it is being called, had just shy of seventy representatives working on the deal. Global roaming is projected to be a $67 billion business by 2015.

“The WiMAX Forum Global Operator Summit was created to specifically address overcoming both business and consumer perceptions that data roaming is expensive, and to explore ways to help operators grow revenue,” said Ron Resnick, president of the WiMAX Forum. “WiMAX has an established ecosystem with nearly 600 deployments around the world. The opportunity for operators to offer their customers roaming is there, and it is an excellent way for operators to add another viable revenue stream and earn returns on their 4G network investments.”

Representatives from both Sprint Nextel and Clearwire attended the event. Full press release is after the break.

WiMAX™ Operators Gather to Draft Global Roaming Agreements

During the First WiMAX Forum Global Operator Summit in Taiwan, Operators Collaborated on Roaming Framework, Efforts

TAIPEI, Taiwan–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Sixteen WiMAX operators from across the globe gathered in Taipei this week to draft roaming agreements and bring consumers one step closer to true global roaming on 4G networks. The first WiMAX Forum Global Operator Summit served as an interactive working event for all service providers to gain a concrete understanding of the opportunity for roaming and how to build a best-in-class framework for execution.

Global roaming continues to be one of the biggest challenges and opportunities for operators in the near and long-term. According to Informa Telecoms & Media, global roaming revenues are expected to grow by 86 percent over the next five years to reach USD $67 billion in 2015.

“The WiMAX Forum Global Operator Summit was created to specifically address overcoming both business and consumer perceptions that data roaming is expensive, and to explore ways to help operators grow revenue,” said Ron Resnick, president and chairman of the WiMAX Forum. “WiMAX has an established ecosystem with nearly 600 deployments around the world. The opportunity for operators to offer their customers roaming is there, and it is an excellent way for operators to add another viable revenue stream and earn returns on their 4G network investments.”

Nearly 70 representatives attended working sessions and collaborated to overcome industry obstacles, including: Accton Wireless Broadband, Aicent, ADT-BV, Alepo, Apacewave, Aptilo, AT4 Wireless, Banglalion, BridgeWater Systems, BSNL, Bureau Veritas ADT, Clearwire, Elite Core – India, Encodex Telesystems, FarEasTone, Gemtek, Global Mobile, Greenpacket, ID-WIBB, Indochina Telecom, Intel, ITRI, KT Telecom, LG Electronics, Media Tek Inc., Mformation, Motorola, M-Skylink Telecom, Packet One International, Planet Online Laos, Samsung, Sprint, Syniverse, Tatung InfoComm Co. Ltd., TTC, UQ Communications, VeeTime, Wi-Tribe and YTL Communications.

The WiMAX Forum Operator Summit event team included representatives from Sprint Nextel, Packet One Networks and ITRI of Taiwan. Summit sponsors included: Aicent, Aptilo Networks, Gemtek, Global Mobile Corporation, Green Packet and Vee Telecom.

For more information on WiMAX Forum initiatives, please visit http://www.WiMAXForum.org.

Yesterday, Palm front-man Jon Rubinstein sat down at the Web 2.0 Summit to talk about his company’s past glory and present predicament. Mr. Rubinstein was cautious, but optimistic, when briefly discussing Palm’s — now HP’s — future plans.

“Palm created the PDA space with the Pilot and the smartphone space after it with the Treo,” said Mr. Rubinstein. “So by birthright, Palm should have owned the smartphone market, but it just lost its way.”

After likening Palm’s missteps to those of Apple, Inc. in the 1990′s, he continued: “We needed more resources. We could not compete in a fashion that would allow us to be one of the premier companies in the marketplace. And HP needed a strong mobile strategy around which they could innovate–one that would allow them to control their own future and not rely on the kindness of strangers.” If we’re not mistaken, that was a small, not-so-subtle, shot at Google’s Android operating system.

When asked about his company’s future plans, Rubinstein said, “We’ve got some great products in the works; some smartphones, a great tablet coming. I think we have several products that will be hits when they come out.” Earlier in the interview, the chief noted that HP’s goal is to “deliver a unified experience” around webOS in an attempt to capitalize on the trend of more and more consumers moving to advanced mobile devices.

Hopefully, we’ll see some of these “great products” come to market in early 2011.

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What’s better than a developer conference? A secret developer conference of course. Business Insider is reporting that Apple, Inc. will be hosting a “secret iOS developer summit next week.” The event, which is being billed as an invite only, could be an effort by the Cupertino handset maker to polish iOS 4.2 applications that will be ready when Apple makes the next iteration of its mobile OS official. Business Insider cites “an industry source” in the report. It’s all speculative at this point, but we’re sure more information about the double-secret meeting will leak out next week… if it does happen to go down.

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Samsung used the S60 Summit in Barcelona Spain today to announce a new S60 slider that has the blogosphere talking. With a sexy brushed steel face, a slender physique and RAZR-esque flush keypad, the L870 is bound to turn some heads once released. The specs aren’t too shabby either:

• HSDPA (2100MHz) 3.6Mbps + EDGE/GPRS 900/1800/1900
• 2.4 inch QVGA 16M Color TFT display
• 3 megapixel Camera
• Symbian 9.3 (S60 Feature Pack 2)
• Safari browser (huh?)
• New Thematic UI
• Advanced PIM Applications
• Music Player (MP3, AAC, AAC+, RA, AMR, WMA)
• Video Player (H.263 + AMR, MPEG4, Real One, WMV)
• FM Radio (RDS)
• Bluetooth v.2.0 EDR / USB 2.0 (Full Speed)
• Memory: 100MB internal memory + microSDHC support
• Size: 103.5 x 50.5 x 13.5mm

Of course the L870 lacks US 3G compatibility and GSM 850 MHz so we can’t say we’re overly excited, but this is a sharp handset regardless. Maybe someday Samsung will decide to issue an S60 smartphone with a little US love. Until then, moving along. Oh and we sincerely hope Nokia makes note of the fact that this is an S60 handset sporting USB 2.0…

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