August 20, 2008
Infonetics Research Reveals India Crucial to WiMAX Growth
By Michelle Robart, TMCnet Editor
A new report released Tuesday by Infonetics Research revealed that as WiMAX (News - Alert) deployments accelerate, India is expected to remain as the biggest single hope for revenue and global influence for WiMAX.
The Infonetics Reseach report, “WiMAX Network Equipment and Subscribers Market Outlook,” covers targeted regions and countries around the world that have strong potential for fixed and mobile WiMAX markets, either because they have huge populations, or the broadband demands of the population are not being met by existing technologies.
According to Infonetics, other global leaders in the WiMAX uptake will be followed by
Central and Eastern Europe, the Middle East and Africa, and Brazil. WiMAX subscribers in each of these regions are expected to roughly double or even triple each year through 2011, based on their growth over the past few years.
Infonetics also predicts that sales of fixed and mobile WiMAX network equipment, such as ASN gateways, base stations, CPE, and NICs will skyrocket in these regions.
"WiMAX has gained such momentum across so many regions that it is no longer sensible to suggest that WiMAX growth will be flattened by the emergence of LTE (News - Alert) in the next few years. In populous countries with poor national telecom infrastructure, such as India, Brazil, and Africa, there is a lack of broadband services, and even of basic voice services, which is a significant driver for WiMAX adoption,” stated Richard Webb, directing analyst at Infonetics for WiMAX, WiFi, and mobile devices.
Using India as an example, Webb explained that in developing countries, WiMAX is positioned to become the primary broadband infrastructure and a prominent 3G mobile technology. Emphasizing India as playing a critical role in the success of WiMAX, Webb added, “The level of uptake there will help decide how prominent a position 802.16e takes in the overall wireless landscape in the next decade.”
Other report highlights include:
- In 2007, Alcatel-Lucent (News - Alert) and Alvarion led the mobile WiMAX network equipment market in Western Europe, each with 21% revenue share; Samsung led in South Korea with 57 percent.
- Alvarion led the fixed WiMAX equipment market in Western Europe, Central and Eastern Europe, and the Middle East and Africa in 2007; Telsima (News - Alert) led in India with 43 percent.
- The number of mobile WiMAX subscribers in Brazil is forecast by Infonetics to skyrocket from fewer than a thousand in 2007 to 3.6 million in 2011, a compound annual growth rate of 940 percent.
- The dearth of serviceable fixed-line networks in much of Central and Eastern Europe qualifies it as a ripe market for WiMAX: already fixed WiMAX is accelerating rapidly in Russia, where broadband demand far outstrips the availability of DSL.
- Japan will be a pioneer of convergence between mobile WiMAX and LTE technologies and is likely to have dual mobile WiMAX-LTE services by 2011.
- Due to the high penetration of fixed-line broadband and mobile, Western Europe will only offer a niche market for WiMAX, as a technology for SME markets and for public service applications (e.g., public safety, intelligent transportation, digital divide).
Infonetics' WiMAX market outlook report tracks the competitive landscape, trends, and growth areas of the WiMAX network equipment and subscriber market in Western Europe, Central and Eastern Europe, Middle East and Africa, India, Japan, South Korea, and Brazil.
The report includes market size, analysis, forecasts through 2011, and select market share for mobile WiMAX (802.16e) equipment (ASN gateways, base stations, CPE, NICs), fixed WiMAX (802.16d) equipment (base stations, CPE), and fixed and mobile WiMAX subscribers.
Market share by region and country is provided for Airspan, Alcatel-Lucent, Alvarion, Aperto Networks, Motorola, Nokia-Siemens, Redline Communications, Samsung (News - Alert), Telsima, and others.
Infonetics also publishes a quarterly WiMAX and mesh report tracking WiMAX equipment, devices and subscribers in North America, EMEA (Europe, the Middle East, Africa), Asia Pacific, and Latin America/Caribbean.
Infonetics Research is an international market research and consulting firm serving the communications industry since 1990. A leader in defining and tracking emerging and established technologies in all world regions, Infonetics helps clients plan, strategize, and compete more effectively.
Michelle Robart is a contributing editor for TMCnet. To read more of Michelle's articles, please visit her columnist page.
