Think WiMAX isn’t getting the love it used to get, in light of LTE (News - Alert)? Think again.

New data shows two-thirds of service providers intend to use WiMAX for mobility-based services by 2012.

And that’s just one of several bits of useful information drawn from Infonetics’ (News - Alert) latest “WiMAX Services Strategies: Global Service Provider Survey” report, part of its Continuous Research Service of WiMAX (News - Alert)-related analyst notes and surveys.

“Some of the strategic findings in this report are surprising: in particular, the fact that two-thirds of the service providers we surveyed intend to use WiMAX for mobility-based services by 2012, or that over 90 percent expect to offer VoIP over WiMAX by then,” said Richard Webb, directing analyst for WiMAX, microwave, and mobile devices at Infonetics Research (News - Alert). “This indicates a richer service environment for WiMAX in the future, but at the same time, our survey showed that key challenges remain; specifically, the limited range of WiMAX-enabled mobile devices, and the difficulty of building low-ARPU pricing models for developing countries. The WiMAX industry is up against the clock to address these challenges if it is to fulfill its undoubted potential as a long-term broadband technology,” Webb added.

According to the WiMAX strategies that were included in the survey fixed and nomadic basic broadband services will be dominating the WiMAX market currently but service providers have plans to diversify the services by 2012.

There is a steady growth in demand for a broadband access “wireless DSL’ solution in several areas across the globe. It was found that even in a developed country like the US there still existed some areas which were under-served by broadband access. WiMAX can be deployed in such places, said analysts.

Infonetics analysts reported that about 64 percent of service provider respondents who took part in the survey plan to offer full mobility by 2012 which is an increase from 24 percent according to the 2010 survey. The full mobility services are expected to be smartphone-oriented which will combine data mobility and voice. Initially USB dongles will be the device of choice for nomadic or mobile services.

The survey highlights also mentioned that availability of WiMAX-enabled mobile devices ranks first in the list of respondents’ commercial challenges. The other main commercial challenges include marketing and positioning of WiMAX services, building retail and distribution channels, providing service level agreements for enterprise customers and also defining a pricing model for a low-ARPU market.

To conduct the “WiMAX Services Strategies: Global Service Provider Survey” Infonetics involved purchase decision-makers at 25 WiMAX-only operators, fixed-line incumbents, competitive fixed-line providers, and mobile operators to capture a strategic overview of WiMAX operators, said Infonetics sources.

The survey provides details of how and why WiMAX networks are being deployed, the reasons for deploying the service, the business model, target markets and the subscriber and revenue numbers that operators expect between now and 2012.