Development of Taiwanese WiMAX Equipment Makers Taking Off in 2007

According to Taiwan's Market Intelligence Center (MIC), in 2007 Taiwanese WiMAX CPE (Customer Premises Equipment) shipment value is expected to amount to US$159 million, representing large-scale growth in comparison with US$22.6 million in 2006. In the first half of 2007, Taiwanese WiMAX CPE shipment volume reached 125,400 units.

Looking at the current development of Taiwanese WiMAX equipment makers, equipment manufacturers in Taiwan have built up contract production relationships with international telecom equipment vendors such as Motorola, Alcatel, Alvarion and SR Telecom, which will help Taiwanese WiMAX equipment shipment to reach mass-production scale. According to MIC senior industry analyst Welber Chang, towards the end of the 2007 the major standard for products will be 802.16e Wave 2, and MIMO (Multi-Input Multi-Output) and beamforming functions will be incorporated in WiMAX products. Also, transmitting capability will increase 1.5 times. Furthermore, Taiwanese WiMAX equipment makers are actively building up their WiMAX CO (Central Office) equipment R&D capabilities, and cultivating software and wireless technology talents. Network communication vendors in Taiwan including ZyXEL, Foxconn, and Tecom are engaged in the R&D of WiMAX base stations.

As to WiMAX CPE chipsets, currently the major vendors are international chipset manufacturers such as Intel, Wavesat, Runcom, Sequans, and Beceem. However, Taiwanese chip makers including MediaTek are now engaged in the R&D of WiMAX chipsets. Taiwanese WiMAX chipsets are expected to be released in 2008.

Taiwan will become an important R&D and production center of WiMAX equipment. A test and certification center in Taiwan will help to lower certification costs of WiMAX products and speed up time-to-market of WiMAX products. The WiMAX Forum announced in June 2007 that Taiwan's ADT (Advance Data Technology) had been chosen as the fourth WFDCL (WiMAX Forum Designated Certification Lab) in the world offering WiMAX equipment testing and certification. ADT is also the first WFDCL in Asia, and provides services for both fixed and mobile WiMAX. ADT is expected to start offering certification services from October 2007.

Posted to the site on 4th November 2007