WiMax

Market Asia Pacific, April 1, 2007

WiMax may be described as Extreme Wi-Fi. For consumers, WiMax-like Wi-Fi-provides wireless broadband Internet connectivity outdoors. But there are some major differences.

Obviously, because the system is wireless, it eliminates the need for cabling meaning that for facilities, as well as outdoor locations, the installation cost for Internet (and by extension mobile telephone) service is low, very much like WiFi. But the difference with WiMax is that the coverage area is much higher.

WiMax is an abbreviation for Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access.

Even with an "extender" Wi-Fi range cannot be more than 1,200 feet. WiMax has a communication range of up to 30 miles, which translates to a coverage area of 2,800 square miles-meaning that a single installation can cover an entire city. This is a major advantage over Wi-Fi "hot spots" that need to be individually provisioned and configured within cities.

For the developing markets of the Asia Pacific region WiMax would seem to be an ideal technology.

Indeed, recent analyses from the market research firm In-Stat (Reed Elsevier) (Scottsdale, AZ USA) says that the region will account for 45 percent of the WiMax market by 2009.

The Asia Pacific subscriber base will grow from 80,000 in 2005 to 3.8-million in 2009, says the research firm.

Getting carriers in the region to adopt the WiMax standard faces a serious obstacle, says In-Stat, because the promise of Wi-Fi has not been met. Both Wi-Fi and WiMax serve the so-called "last mile" of the path to the Internet-in other words, connection to the individual subscriber. Carriers were "burned by last-mile promises in the past," says an In-Stat researcher.

In-Stat says that China will be the biggest market by 2009 because of its huge subscriber base. In the Asia Pacific region, China will account for 38 percent of the revenue generated by WiMax equipment sales. South Korea will come in second with 23.1 percent of revenue generated. And Japan will be third with 22.5 percent.

Total Asia Pacific spending for WiMax equipment is estimated atus$2-billion.

The success of WiMax, though, is by no means guaranteed, according to a January 5, 2007 analysis by the New Zealand-based consulting firm Ovum. The major problem is standards specifically, "A universally designated spectrum band." Ovum says WiMax will be only a "niche" market for the next five years.

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