The Worldwide interoperability for microwave access (WiMAX) industry is accelerating in the Asia Pacific region, but technology and business uncertainties remain, reports In-Stat. The total APAC market, including WiMAX CPEs, WiMAX Base stations and WiMAX commercial services, but excluding the non-radio-access part of total WiMAX solutions, is valued at USD 106.4 million in 2006, and that figure will grow to USD 4.3 billion in 2011, the high-tech market research firm says.
"No APAC service provider can ignore WiMAX," says Victor Liu, In-Stat analyst. "Providers need either to evaluate the possibility of adding WiMAX to their existing services portfolio, or to assess the competitive pressure from other WiMAX service providers."
According to another research by Frost and Sullivan, WiMAX has been widely accepted in the region compared with broadband wireless access (BWA) and wireless fidelity (Wi-Fi). The firm said that while BWA has not been able to make a remarkable progress due to lack of standardization and poor interoperability, WiMAX on the other hand has generated much interest as the next evolutionary data-voice enabler.
"In the Asia Pacific region, the ratification of the WiMAX standards and the increased activities surrounding BWA spectrum allocation during 2005 and 2006 have resulted in the emergence of WiMAX," notes the analyst of this study. "A BWA evolution, WiMAX is poised to cause a major upheaval in the telecommunications industry."
The added mobility and farther range that WiMAX offers over its predecessor, wireless fidelity (Wi-Fi), and its ability to provide greater bandwidth over third-generation (3G) networks further strengthen its appeal. Ultimately, the fate of WiMAX is likely to be determined by its right positioning and strategic concoction; either complimentary or complementary to existing technologies.
Asia Pacific is expected to be a more suitable test bed for WiMAX, given the lack of telecommunications infrastructure, low broadband penetration, and geographically widespread population, said Frost and Sullivan.
"Although the major impetus behind WiMAX is in the mobility portion, 802.16e, fixed WiMAX is likely to drive adoption in the next three years since mobile WiMAX handsets are expected to become available only by 2009," explains the analyst. "Furthermore, these handsets may not be offered at attractive prices along with the functionalities and applications that 3G devices are likely to support, such as mobile video streaming and music."
According to In-Stat trial network deployments are in progress in at least 13 Asia Pacific countries. Many service providers in developing countries such as India, Thailand, Philippines, and Indonesia have shown great interest in setting up WiMAX networks and extending telecommunication services coverage to under-served places.
In-Stat said equipment vendors, including chip set makers, CPE makers and system solution providers, have to act very quickly to adopt the latest technical specifications and optimize their equipment performance in real environments.
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