Na Imprensa

Nov 15, 2006

WiMAX Poised For Rapid Growth Despite Major Challenges

In-Stat

WiMAX technology is entering a rapid growth phase, as service providers are now able to buy WiMAX Forum-certified equipment, reports In-Stat. Worldwide subscribers are estimated to reach 222,000 in 2006 and are forecasted to grow to 19.7 million by the end of 2010, the high-tech market research firm says. Most of those subscribers are in the Asia/Pacific region. Almost all subscribers are using a fixed service today, with the exception of those in South Korea.

"While WiMAX faces many challenges, the biggest challenge still comes from competing technologies and services," says Daryl Schoolar, In-Stat analyst. "WiMAX will have difficulty competing in areas that already have established broadband services. WiMAX will need to provide a demonstratively superior service to win customers from the incumbent provider. Much of WiMAX’s early success will come from under-developed regions of the globe."

Recent research by In-Stat found the following:

With Sprint being the exception, In-Stat does not believe most 3G carriers will deploy WiMAX in the near term.

Alvarion had the largest share of WiMAX equipment revenue during the first half of 2006.

In-Stat expects sales in 802.16e equipment to quickly overtake those in 802.16d.

Regulatory uncertainty and spectrum availability continue to hamper the growth of WiMAX.

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