Skip to main content

Will the WiMAX Providers Find Their Mojo?

WiMAX may be a tale of two markets -- one being WiMAX as an emerging technology gaining momentum, and the other being the larger converging broadband market, where rival mobile broadband system HSDPA and the acceleration of LTE threatens the opportunity for WiMAX in some markets.

"It's the best and worst of times for WiMAX," says Mike Roberts, principal analyst at Informa Telecoms & Media.

It's the best of times because the WiMAX industry has undoubtedly gained significant momentum in the last year, passing a string of key milestones including product certification, the launch of services by major operators such as Sprint Nextel, commitments to WiMAX by key Internet players such as Google, and the long-awaited arrival of WiMAX notebooks and other devices.

WiMAX is also starting to take off in key emerging markets. For example, Informa's forecasts show that WiMAX will account for 24 percent of India's total broadband subscribers by 2013, up from 7 percent in 2008.

But despite the upside potential, it's also the worst of times for WiMAX because its rival HSDPA has become a runaway success in many markets worldwide, and emerging rival LTE has accelerated and gained the backing of most of the world's major mobile operators.

Meanwhile, mobile WiMAX pioneer KT had 200,000 WiBro subscribers at the end of May 2008, well below expectations given the service launched in June 2006 and was expanded significantly by May 2007. In contrast KT's mobile arm KTF launched HSDPA services in March 2007 and had 4.8 million subscribers by March 2008.

"KT may be a special case since it launched mobile WiMAX services so early into such a competitive broadband market," Roberts says.

But the very different performance of mobile WiMAX and HSDPA in Korea shows the challenges WiMAX faces in some major developed markets. To overcome the challenges and gain traction in fiercely competitive markets, operators will have to use WiMAX as a platform for innovative new business models, devices, applications and services.

Mobile WiMAX also faces challenges because is entering its capital-intensive deployment phase in the midst of the global financial crisis, which will make it harder for operators to secure funding for new deployments.

Informa's market study finds significant opportunities for WiMAX in many regions and market segments worldwide, but in others it will struggle to compete with HSDPA and other broadband systems.

According to Informa's assessment, WiMAX is taking off in some key markets, which will lead to 103 million WiMAX subscribers worldwide by 2013. But, rival HSPA is truly booming and will have more than 1 billion subscribers worldwide by 2013, more than ten times as many as WiMAX.

However, mobile WiMAX still has a significant head-start over its OFDMA rival LTE, which will launch commercially in 2010. The result is that WiMAX will be the leading next-generation mobile broadband system in 2013, with significantly more subscribers than LTE.

Popular posts from this blog

How Cloud Fuels Digital Business Transformation

Across the globe, many CEOs invested in initiatives to expand their digital offerings. User experience enhancements that are enabled by business technology were a priority in many industries. Worldwide end-user spending on public cloud services is forecast to grow 21.7 percent to a total of $597.3 billion in 2023 -- that's up from $491 billion in 2022, according to the latest market study by Gartner. Cloud computing is driving the next phase of digital transformation, as organizations pursue disruption through technologies like generative Artificial Intelligence (AI), Web3, and enterprise Metaverse. Public Cloud Computing Market Development "Hyperscale cloud providers are driving the cloud agenda," said Sid Nag, vice president at Gartner . Organizations view cloud computing as a highly strategic platform for digital transformation initiatives, which requires providers to offer new capabilities as the competition for digital business escalates. "For example, generativ

Digital Talent Demand Exceeds Supply in Asia-Pac

Even the savviest CEO's desire for a digital transformation advantage has to face the global market reality -- there simply isn't enough skilled and experienced talent available to meet demand. According to the latest market study by IDC, around 60-80 percent of Asia-Pacific (AP) organizations find it "difficult" or "extremely difficult" to fill many IT roles -- including cybersecurity, software development, and data insight professionals. Major consequences of the skills shortage are increased workload on remaining digital business and IT employees, increased security risks, and loss of "hard-to-replace" critical transformation knowledge. Digital Business Talent Market Development Although big tech companies' layoffs are making headlines, they are not representative of the overall global marketplace. Ongoing difficulty to fill key practitioner vacancies is still among the top issues faced by leaders across industries. "Skills are difficul

Mobile Device Market Still Awaiting Recovery

The mobile devices market has experienced three years of unpredictable demand. The global pandemic, geopolitical pressures, supply chain issues, and macroeconomic headwinds have hindered the sector's consistent growth potential. This extremely challenging environment has dramatically affected both demand and supply chains. It has led to subsequent inflationary pressures, leading to a worsening global cost of living crisis suppressing growth and confidence in the sector. In tandem, mobile device industry stakeholders have become more cautious triggering market uncertainties. Mobile Device Market Development Operating under such a backdrop, the development of mobile device ecosystems and vendor landscapes have been impacted severely. Many of these market pressures persisted throughout 2022 and now into 2023, borne chiefly by the smartphone market. According to the latest worldwide market study by ABI Research, worldwide smartphone shipments in 2022 declined 9.6 percent Year-over-Year