Vertical Services to Reach 24% of WiMAX Subscriptions by 2014

Enterprises are finally ready to adopt vertical applications (M2M, in-vehicle telematics, mobile workforce support) that require wireless data connectivity, claims a report from Senza Fili Consulting.

The report says that by 2014, there will be over 154 million connections supporting vertical applications within 3G, WiMAX, and LTE networks, generating more than US$43 billion in service revenues. Vertical applications give wireless broadband operators the opportunity to address what is today an underserved market that will not compete with their existing services to individual retail subscribers.

"Vertical services can be very profitable for operators. They bring in a steady revenue stream generated by a small number of contracts, each with a high number of connections. And churn is low -- contracts typically last 10 years," says Monica Paolini, the report's author. To profit, however, operators need to be well equipped to face the challenges of this highly fragmented market, in which customers expect deep application-specific expertise.

Enterprises increasingly see that vertical applications improve their operations and the productivity of their employees. Through improved performance, QoS support, and wider coverage, wireless broadband technologies have given enterprises confidence that public networks can support their applications, so they do not need to own and maintain proprietary, expensive telecommunication infrastructure.

Among applications, vehicle telematics and support for the mobile workforce will be the most widely deployed, because they require the bandwidth and wide-area coverage that 3G, WiMAX, and LTE support. Additional wireless broadband market growth will come from emerging consumer applications available in vehicles and in mobile and CE devices that will extend wireless broadband beyond individuals to connect the entire environment.

Posted to the site on 10th September 2008