Cellular-News reports that the Asia-Pacific region is the front runner in the 2009 WiMax innovation race. Tier-1 operators such as Japan’s KDDI, India’s Tata Communications, Reliance Communications, and Korea Telecom continue to heavily invest in the technology. The APAC region is also the stage to non-conformist WiMax operators that are breaking ground for non-incumbent operators to use the technology.
Surprisingly, 3G spectrum and broadband connectivity are still missing in much of the APAC region; yet, “[…] the region holds the best prospects for WiMax services in terms of subscriber uptake and future innovation,” says Frost & Sullivan industry analyst Shaker Amin.
According to Huawei, China’s leading infrastructure giant, “the Asia Pacific Region embodies the first potential market to which WiMax is likely to be widely deployed. However WiMax is currently in its infancy, and [Huawei is] looking forward to its evolution and, by 2010, a wide subscriber base.”
At the end of 2008, Amin estimated that some 3.6 billion people in the underserved territories of APAC will yet have to adopt some type of broadband services. This niche market indicates strong likelihood for the WiMax life cycle to remain longer in the growth stage.
Despite the great expectations, potential operators face deployment challenges due to Chinese government’s refusal to license WiMax. “The fact that China has not supported WiMax, preferring instead to back the homegrown TD-SCDMA 3G standard, is particularly unnerving for the technology’s prospects in the region,” Amin states. “Even grimmer still, important markets such as India and Thailand, both of which also hold great potential for WiMax, have fallen behind in issuing WiMax licenses and spectrum allocation in the 2.3 and 2.5GHz bands,” he adds.
Ironically, Huawei Technologies and ZTE, two key Chinese technology providers, are among the largest WiMax dealers globally.
A new market research analysis conducted by Frost & Sullivan estimates that the WiMax subscriber base in the region – covering 17 APAC countries excluding China – might top 24 million by the end of 2014, which would convert into revenues of an estimated US$6.4 billion. Amin believes that these approximations could double if the Chinese government were to change their position on WiMax.
While some Asian markets have been slow in allocating spectrum to WiMax, other markets such as Australia, Malaysia, the Philippines and Singapore have seen substantial increase in the wireless broadband subscriptions. Despite the odds, “with HSPA gaining momentum … Read the rest