Nascent Asian WiMAX Market Gains Momentum

The WiMAX industry is accelerating in the Asia Pacific region, but technology and business uncertainties remain, reports In-Stat. The total APAC market, including WiMAX CPEs, WiMAX Base stations and WiMAX commercial services, but excluding the non-radio-access part of total WiMAX solutions, is valued at US$106.4 million in 2006, and that figure will grow to US$4.3 billion in 2011, the high-tech market research firm says.

"No APAC service provider can ignore WiMAX," says Victor Liu, In-Stat analyst. "Providers need either to evaluate the possibility of adding WiMAX to their existing services portfolio, or to assess the competitive pressure from other WiMAX service providers."

A recent report by In-Stat found the following:

• Equipment vendors, including chip set makers, CPE makers and system solution providers, have to act very quickly to adopt the latest technical specifications and optimize their equipment performance in real environments.
• Trial network deployments are in progress in at least 13 APAC countries.
• Many service providers in developing countries such as India, Thailand, Philippines, and Indonesia have shown great interest in setting up WiMAX networks and extending telecommunication services coverage to under-served places.

Posted to the site on 25th July 2006