As a result, many WiMAX vendors and operators need to reshape their strategies.įor example, mobile WiMAX pioneer KT of South Korea had 200,000 WiBro subscriptions at end-May, well below expectations, given that the service launched in June 2006 and had been expanded significantly by May 2007. There’s no doubt that mobile WiMAX has come of age in the past year, with the launch of major services, such as Sprint’s Xohm, but it faces a tough fight against HSDPA and eventually LTE in key markets.

The second edition of Informa Telecoms & Media report WiMAX Broadband Convergence: Emerging Fixed, Portable & Mobile Internet Markets forecasts that WiMAX will account for 24% of India’s broadband subscriptions in 2013, up from 7% in 2008.īut rival technology HSDPA has become a runaway success in many markets worldwide, and the progress of emerging rival LTE has accelerated and gained the backing of most of the world’s major mobile operators, including Vodafone and China Mobile. WiMAX is also starting to take off in many major emerging markets, where all the pieces are falling into place, including availability of spectrum, huge pent-up demand for broadband, certification of mobile WiMAX equipment and the arrival of lower-cost devices, such as ultraportable notebooks and netbooks. The WiMAX industry has gained significant momentum in the past 12 months, passing a string of key milestones, including product certification the launch of services by major operators, such as Sprint Nextel commitments to WiMAX by key Internet players, such as Google and the long-awaited arrival of WiMAX notebooks and other devices. To paraphrase the opening lines of Charles Dickens’ A Tale of Two Cities, it’s the best of times and the worst of times for WiMAX.

The story of WiMAX is a tale of two markets: one in which WiMAX, as an emerging technology, has made enormous progress over the past year and one in which its opportunities are being threatened by developments in the larger converging broadband market, such as the relentless advance of rival mobile broadband system HSDPA and the acceleration of LTE developmen t.

Rivalo mobil