Vodafone has become a principal member of the WiMax Forum, a leading organisation pushing this particular high-speed wireless data standard. The news has surprised the wireless world, but in reality it is just another step in Vodafone’s long-term interest in WiMax: the company has been conducting trials in Malta, France and Bahrain for some time now.

The mobile operator has certainly not wanted to put all its eggs into one technological basket--it has also put itself behind the cellular-based standard for very high speed data networks LTE (Long Term Evolution), as well as WiFi Mesh, which works over longer distances than regular WiFi. Says Sara Harris, senior analyst with Strategy Analytics in an article in PC World, “Vodafone is hedging its bets. No one really knows yet what LTE will be, unlike WiMax, which is here and real. Vodafone clearly doesn’t want to be left behind.”

What would Vodafone run over a WiMax network? For the time being, the operator has limited its public profile on WiMax, saying it simply wants to explore all options in the area of high-speed networks. It hasn’t gone as far as others like Sprint to explore what kind of content it might offer over such networks. The PC World article speculates that Vodafone might be interested in WiMax particularly in countries where there is low Internet penetration. But if Sprint’s venture with Clearwire in the U.S. proves successful it could give the mobile operator some ideas about where else it might deploy the technology.

“Indeed Vodafone’s announcement to join the WiMAX Forum only a day after announcing it was going to hold on to its 45 percent stake in Verizon Wireless is surely more than just a coincidence and perhaps a sign that Verizon Wireless may follow the WiMAX strategy of its main CDMA2000 competitor, Sprint Nextel Corp.,” says IMS Research in an analyst note on the announcement (via RCR).