WiMAX Subscribers Jumped 85% in 2007

Increased global deployments of WiMAX technology has lead to an 85% spike in subscribers and a corresponding growth in service revenue according to research firm Maravedis, who today revealed these and other WiMAX trends in the first issue of its WiMAXCounts Newsletter.

• 52% of the deployments still used proprietary equipment, 36% applied the 802.16-2004 standard, and 12% applied wave 1 802.16-2005 standard.
• United States, Spain and Australia were the top 3 countries in number of subscribers. In Q1 2007, they accounted for 0.5 million BWA/WiMAX subscribers.
• APAC accounted for 38% of deployments, Europe 33%, North America 17%, and CALA 13%.
• WiMAX service revenues in 2006 totaled US$322 million, with recorded ARPUs of US$40.76 and US$145.54 for residential and business subscribers, respectively.
• The split by subscriber type operators was 58% residential and 42% business.
• APAC operators offer higher speeds compared to other regions, yet APAC has the lowest ARPU at US$30.45 for residential.
• The price difference between WiMAX and DSL tends to be narrow, which tends to negate price as a factor for potential customers.

Posted to the site on 29th May 2007