Infonetics Research: India vital to WiMAX fortunes; Brazil, other regions also key

Despite licensing delays that slowed the progress of WiMAX in India, deployments are now accelerating and India remains the biggest single hope for revenue and global influence for WiMAX, according to a report released today by communications market research firm Infonetics Research.

The report, WiMAX Network Equipment and Subscribers Market Outlook, focuses on 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.

After India, Infonetics expects Central and Eastern Europe, the Middle East and Africa, and Brazil to lead in WiMAX uptake, with the number of WiMAX subscribers in each of these regions roughly doubling to tripling each year through at least 2011. Sales of fixed and mobile WiMAX network equipment, such as ASN gateways, base stations, CPE, and NICs are likewise forecast to 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 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. In many developing countries, with India being the prime example, WiMAX is showing promising signs of becoming the primary broadband infrastructure and a prominent 3G mobile technology. India is absolutely critical to the fortunes of WiMAX, and the level of uptake there will help decide how prominent a position 802.16e takes in the overall wireless landscape in the next decade," said Richard Webb, directing analyst at Infonetics for WiMAX, WiFi, and mobile devices.

Other highlights from the report:

--  In 2007, Alcatel-Lucent and Alvarion led the mobile WiMAX network
    equipment market in Western Europe, each with 21% revenue share; Samsung
    led in South Korea with 57%
--  Alvarion led the fixed WiMAX equipment market in Western Europe,
    Central and Eastern Europe, and the Middle East and Africa in 2007; Telsima
    led in India with 43%
--  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%
--  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, 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.

View report highlights and more from Infonetics' online portal (log in at www.infonetics.com; see Wireless and FMC area). For sales, contact Larry Howard, vice president, at larry@infonetics.com or +1 (408) 583-3335.

Infonetics Research (www.infonetics.com) 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.