CTIA: WiMAX to take on last mile

WiMAX is set to be one of the fastest-growing technologies for broadband access over the next three to four years, predicts industry analysts Juniper Research.

The technology - which uses wide area wireless signals to deliver high-speed data services - will account for 47 million subscribers by 2012, which compares well with predicted figures from a year ago. WiMAX will increasingly serve as an alternative to digital subscriber line (DSL) broadband access, delivered over copper telephone wires.

According to the report's author, Howard Wilcox, as much as 12 per cent of DSL subscribers will switch to WiMax by 2013, creating a market worth $20 billion (£10 billion). Most new WiMAX services being announced are for fixed broadband services.

Portable and mobile services are expected to emerge later, however, as manufacturers develop handsets, data cards and other WiMAX equipment. Juniper points to both the availability of suitable devices, and operators' schedules for network construction, as potential barriers to the uptake of WiMAX. Well-publicised trials, the report points out, does not always translate into reliable, commercial networks.

WiMAX networks are likely to be most successful initially in areas that are not covered by wired networks, or in metropolitan areas which are on the fringe of existing DSL coverage, said Juniper. Demand for WiMAX is likely to be strongest in the Far East, North America, Western Europe and Africa and the Middle East.

Already, emerging markets have shown seen some of the largest WiMAX deployments. Pakistan's Wateen Telecom is building a nationwide network supporting both mobile data services and internet telephony. Etihad Atheeb Telecommunication Company (Atheeb) recently announced a $165 million contract with Motorola to build a nationwide WiMAX network in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.

At CTIA this week in Las Vegas, WiMAX chipset provider Beceem Communications announced that it had developed a single-chip, 65 nanometer design for mobile WiMAX which supports data rates of 40 megabits per second.

* Nokia also used CTIA to strengthen its commitment to WiMAX. The handset maker announced a further update to its N-Series Internet tablets, in the form of the N810 WiMAX edition. The new version will go on sale in the US this summer, initially in markets where there is a public WiMAX service. The N810 will be pre-configured for US WiMAX service provider Xohm. It also features a new update to the OS2008 operating system. Owners of earlier N800 series tablets will be able to download the new OS in the second quarter of this year.

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