Verizon is holding a conference to unveil its 4G network.A while back, the news was made official: WiMAX and LTE are the only existing 4G technologies. Both offer similar speed, and as far as the end consumer is concerned, they are both the same simply 4G (Just like 3G is simply 3G, not UMTS or CDMA2000).But here’s the problem: Some companies are fond of LTE while others are fond of WiMAX. And both of them want to ensure that their favoured technology is the only one left standing. Neither of them have made it to the market in a big way yet. And the stakes here are big. Right from the hardware manufacturers to the software deployers, everyone is involved in the fight. Billions of dollars are at stake, as is the pride of the big companies.In a way, it’s GSM vs CDMA all over again. Except this time the fight slim kick is much closer.The sides at warThe heart of the battle currently seems to be in the US. Nevermind the fact that their networks are one of the worst in the world. The WiMAX vs LTE battle has truly started there.Verizon will be launching its LTE networks on December 5. That will mark its foray into the 4G market. But guess who beat it to the punch? Sprint, in partnership with Clearwire. And it did so using WiMAX.Verizon and Sprint are among US’s four biggest telecom players, and they are supporting different technologies. AT&T and T-Mobile have hinted that their 4G technology, when they launch it, will be based on LTE.The biggest mobile manufacturer in the world, Nokia, supports LTE. True, it doesn’t have a major presence in the US, but Nokia can pull plenty of strings to swing the favor in balance on LTE.
