Officials at the United Nations telecoms agency this week designed WiMAX as part of its global 3G communications technology standard. The decision means carriers with 3G licenses can now offer WiMAX (News - Alert) services under those licenses.

Associated Press noted in a Friday report that many providers may choose to use WiMAX instead of slower UMTS and EDGE technologies. WiMAX is capable of delivering wireless services at speeds of 70 megabits per second or faster across an area of up to 40 miles. By comparison, fixed-line broadband connections top out at about 2 megabits per second.

U.S. delegation leader Richard Russell praised the UN agency’s move.

 “We strongly believe in an approach that includes as many technologies as possible, within the appropriate technical parameters, because diversity will lead to greater competition, lower prices and more benefits to consumers,” Russell was quoted as saying in the AP report.

The decision to include WiMAX in the IMT-2000 standard for advanced mobile technologies was not an easy one to reach, AP noted. There was opposition to this move by number of countries, mainly China, which is a key player when it comes to defining emerging technologies because of its vast consumer potential and growing economic might. China was reportedly lobbying for its own wireless broadband standard to be adopted globally. But U.S. officials had argued in favor of adopting WiMAX as an official IMT-2000 standard alongside other high-speed mobile network technologies.

An unnamed official at International Telecommunication Union told the Associated Press that, although the proposal to include WiMax was fraught with difficulty, it finally came through.