DUBLIN, Ireland --(Business Wire)-- March 21, 2006 -- Research and Markets (http://www.researchandmarkets.com/reports/c34580) has announced the addition of the Pioneer Consulting report: The Impact of 3G & 4G Wireless Technology On Carriers' Network Development Strategies to their offering.

The evolution of 2G, 3G, and 4G mobile telecommunications technologies has been researched and written about ad infinitum. More recently, the topic of WiMAX, a particular 4G technology which promises to deliver 70 Mb/s data speeds over a 50 km radius, has been the focus of much attention and hype.

Many telecom analysts had come to the conclusion that 4G was just a distraction from making 3G work until the IEEE approved the 802.16e standard for mobile WiMAX in December 2005. Subsequently, the WiMAX Forum announced the first certified fixed WiMAX (802.16d or 802.16-2004) equipment in January 2006.

With this new found credibility, manufacturers and network operators are looking again at the benefits promised by 4G technologies and they are starting to invest serious time and effort in developing fixed and mobile products which should be commercialized within the next three years.

The report addresses the following key issues:

-- What are the dynamics between 3G & 4G - competing or complimentary?

-- What are the standards and regulatory issues in 4G?

-- Which manufacturers are leading 4G development?

-- How are carriers approaching the 4G issue at a strategic level?

-- What would be the impact of 4G on networks, in terms of bandwidth requirements, under different penetration scenarios?

Thus, the overall purpose of this report is to give the reader some fresh perspectives on the issue of 4G by looking at this technology, not as an isolated phenomenon, but as part of an ongoing technological evolution and to provide some ground-breaking analysis in terms of average user bandwidth demand, as well as the usual measurements of subscribers, penetration rates, installations, and equipment sales.

The Impact of 3G & 4G Wireless Technology on Carriers' Network Development Strategies, concludes that WiMAX will have a significant role to play in the evolution of mobile networks. A survey of manufacturers and network operators indicates that they are making plans to incorporate 4G technology as a value-adding adjunct to existing mobile infrastructure and services.

"WiMAX has received a lot of negative publicity recently" says Julian Rawle, Managing Partner, "but when you look beyond the hype and anti-hype, there is a viable business case for the fixed standard and maybe also for the mobile standard."

Instead of characterizing the evolution of 3G and 4G mobile technologies as a battle to the death between species, the report highlights the potential for complementarity between the various technologies which reside under the 3G and 4G "umbrellas". Pioneer's Managing Partner, Howard Kidorf, commented "In modeling scenarios for 4G development, we found that accelerated growth in demand for 4G stimulates interest in broadband wireless applications which also has a beneficial impact on demand for 3G."

Nevertheless, Pioneer acknowledges that the future of 4G technology is by no means certain. More investment in R&D is required, the issue of global spectrum harmonization is unresolved, and equipment certification has only recently begun.

Pioneer's report segments the potential WiMAX market into "fixed wireless backhaul" and "mobile". It provides forecasts to 2010 of subscriber numbers, penetration rates, and base station installations across North America, Europe, and Asia Pacific for 2G, 3G, and 4G mobile technologies. The value of WiMAX equipment in the backhaul market is forecast and an innovative approach is used to forecast mobile demand in terms of bandwidth usage.

The conclusion from these forecasts is that WiMAX will establish market share over the next few years at a significant growth rate but will not become the dominant mobile technology any time soon.

Companies Mentioned

Manufacturers, Vendors, System Integrators, & Solution Providers

Adaptix Inc. - Airspan Networks - Alcatel - Altera Corp. - Alvarion - Analog Devices - Aperto Networks - ArrayComm - Aspex Semiconductor - Atmel Corp. - Axxcelera BBW - Beceem Communications - BelAir - Cambridge Broadband - Cisco - Colubris - Cygnus Communications - Flarion - Fujitsu - Huawei - Intel - LG Electronics - Motorola - Navini Networks - NextNet - Nokia Corp. - Nortel Networks - PicoChip Designs - Posdata Co. Ltd - Proxim Corp - Qualcomm - Redline Communication - RF Magic - Roke Manor Research - Runcom Technologies - Samsung Electronics - Sequans Communications - Siemens AG - SiGe Semiconductor - SiWave Corp - SiWorks - SkyPilot Networks - SR Telecom - Strix Systems - TeleCIS Wireless - Texas Instruments - Wavesat Wireless - Wi-LAN - WiNetworks - Xilinx - ZTE Corp

Network Operators, ISPs, WISPs

ACS - Aliant Telecom Mobility - Alltel - Altitude Telecom - Amena - AT&T - Austar - Belgacom Mobile - Bell Canada - Bell Mobility - Bell South - Bouygues Telecom - British Telecom - Call Plus - China Mobile - China Netcom - China Unicom - Chunghwa Telecom - Cingular Wireless - Clearwire - Connect Austria - Cosmote - CSL - Danske Telecom - Digita Oy - Ecophone - EDGE Wireless - Elisa - EMT - E-Plus - Eurotel Praha - FarEasTone - France Telecom - Hanaro - HI3G Denmark - Hong Kong CSL - Hutchison 3G - Iberbanda - Irish Broadband - IUSACELL - KDDI - Korea Telecom - KPN Mobile - Libera - Libertel - LMT - LUX Communications - MAC Telecom - Manx Telecom - Maxis Communication - MetroFi - Midwest Wireless - MobiFON - MobileOne - Mobilkom - Mobitel - Moscow Cellular Comms - Mpower Communications - Net2Cell - NETAGO - Nordisk Mobiltelefon - Finland - NTT DoCoMo - O2 - Omnitel - Optima Telekom - Optimus - Optus - Orange France - P&T Luxembourg - Panafon - Pannon GSM - Pelephone - Pipex - Polkomtel - PT Wireless Indonesia - Qwest - Radionet - Rogers - Sasktel Mobility - SBC - SFR - SingTel Mobile - SK Telecom - SmarTone - Speakeasy - Sprint Nextel - StarHub - STET Hellas - Stratos Global - Sunday - Svenska UMTS-Nat - Swisscom Mobile - Taiwan Mobile - TDC Mobil - Telabria - Tele.ring - Tele2 - Telecard - Telecel - Telecom Italia - Telecom New Zealand - Telefonica Moviles - Telekom Malaysia - Telenor Mobil - Telfort - Telia Sonera - Telstra - Telus Mobility - TIM - TMN - T-Mobile - TowerStream - TVA Sistema de - Televisao - Ultranet2go - Unwired - Veratnet - Verizon Wireless - VIBO Telecom - VIPNet - Vodafone - Wave Telecom - WiMAX Telecom - Wind - Yozan - Zapp Mobile - ZOMA Telecom

For more information visit http://www.researchandmarkets.com/reports/c34580

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