Comments on: WiMAX's Future Is in Emerging Markets

By: Planet WiMAX – GigaOM

Planet WiMAX – GigaOM — Wed, 10 Feb 2010 14:41:49 +0000

[...] some analysts believe that all is not over for WiMAX. As we have mentioned in the past, WiMAX is finding its feet in emerging markets and that is why I am not surprised that Asia, South Americas and Africa are the top regions when it [...]

By: The State of Global WiMAX: The 2009 Report – GigaOM

The State of Global WiMAX: The 2009 Report – GigaOM — Mon, 21 Dec 2009 15:23:01 +0000

[...] By Om Malik Dec. 21, 2009, 6:13am 1 Comment 0 0 0 18 No disrespect to Clearwire, but I have maintained that the future of WiMAX, the wireless broadband technology is outside the U.S. The end of 2009 report issued by The WiMAX [...]

By: Emerging Markets Still Key for 3G Growth – GigaOM

Emerging Markets Still Key for 3G Growth – GigaOM — Thu, 03 Dec 2009 19:12:21 +0000

[...] $6.1 billion to come next year, according to iSuppli. So while LTE advances across Asia and WiMAX may eventually find traction in emerging markets, the near-term prospects for 3G services around the world still look very bright [...]

By: Umar Altaf

Umar Altaf — Fri, 11 Sep 2009 22:30:21 +0000

There are are lot of doubts about Wimax that it will failed to compete with GSM based LTE 4G.Many experts pointed out that GSM based LTE 4G will be the future of Telecommunications.

By: Reliance WiMax Operations Worldwide in Red : goBroadband

Reliance WiMax Operations Worldwide in Red : goBroadband — Thu, 10 Sep 2009 13:57:35 +0000

[...] September 10, 2009 · Filed Under Broadband, Telecom Much has been talked about and written about how WiMax will get everybody connected online. However, the Shangri-La picture painted by WiMax lobbyists is [...]

By: WiMAX Gear Market to Be Worth $4.9B by 2013: Report

WiMAX Gear Market to Be Worth $4.9B by 2013: Report — Thu, 27 Aug 2009 20:14:36 +0000

[...] of WiMAX subscribers is expected to near 140 million worldwide by 2013. In a recent conversation, WiMAX Forum President Dr. Mohammad Shakouri said that WiMAX’s future was in emerging telecom markets such as India, Russia and [...]

By: Jesse Kopelman

Jesse Kopelman — Wed, 26 Aug 2009 20:47:22 +0000

The whole point of WiMAX is commoditized hardware . . ! That is the reason Ericsson never wanted to touch it — no way to charge the “carrier grade” premium they are accustomed to with so much competition (including from non-traditional vendors like Cisco and Intel) right out the door.

By: PJ Brunet

PJ Brunet — Wed, 26 Aug 2009 07:35:24 +0000

I won’t purchase a “smartphone” until WIMAX or equivalent gets here. I can live with WIFI until then.

No kidding, what’s taking so long? It’s not like the technology is new, my Ricochet modem back in 2000 worked flawlessly.

I’d like to read more about mobile-WIMAX vs. non-mobile-WIMAX. Any good articles? Most of us want mobile-WIMAX, but when I look up companies offering WIMAX here in Texas they only offer fixed point-to-point solutions.

By: Pat

Pat — Tue, 25 Aug 2009 17:30:41 +0000

Attention should also be paid to North American Smart Grid build outs. As standardization and security become mora and more imperative, more utilites will deploy private WiMax networks. Smart Grid, Smart Meters, and now Smart Radios.

By: Brian

Brian — Tue, 25 Aug 2009 15:14:53 +0000

For the technological issues, lets cut to the chase: WiMAX and LTE are very, very similiar. The only difference, for the layman, is the up-channel on LTE supports smaller packet sizes making voice transport easier. the converse, is that WiMAX is better geared towards data with larger packet sizes.
Great article OM!

For the business model though, OM and Skakouri are right about the uncertainty that WiMAX economics creates for the 3G manufacturers. WiMAX is being deployed today in emerging markets has nothing to do with (WiMAX vs LTE or what the US and Western Europe will evolve to), it is all about COST!!! The WiMAX gear is here today and is a fraction of the cost of 3G equipment. So, if you are an operator in an emerging market, lacking 3G infrastructure and you are under public scrutiny, public demand, gov’t mandate, profit motive or whatever to expand your data penetration across your sub base, and most likely you can’t afford 3G economics of basestations, you will deploy WiMAX (150k base station plus $100 MSM chips per handset vs. $40k base station and $30 wimax chip) – It’s all about the $$$s. Remove the emotion and look at the numbers. Most analysts are uncertain if LTE will follow the same WiMAX cost curve (cite IPR concerns, chip costs, etc). However, when you talk to the aircard manufacturers, who negotiate the chipset pricing and IPR, they are saying LTE is following the same cost curve as 3G. One went so far as to cite RevA pricing ($150 all in) – very disappointing, UGHHH! I thought we were beyond that.

My prediction is that we will end up with two worlds of 4G tech – developed world with LTE and some WiMAX and emerging markets with WiMAX. Keep in mind though, the emerging markets are where the outsource trends and labor are occuring, so we should see a healthy, vibrant commerce/trade, and thus WiMAX will not disappear anytime soon.

Lastly, Clearwire, albeit facing some hurdles, is in a good position due to its spectrum holdings. 2.5GHz is in SERVICE TODAY or is licensed to be in service in Europe and ROW (rest or world) tomorrow. This is very key for global adoption, global coverage and roaming. It is much easier to change the encoding mechanism in a device (WiMAX to LTE and vise versa) than to change the frequency – tomorrow’s platforms for encoding are flexible. Frequency requires new physical filters and antennas – adding to an already crowded bill of materials (i.e. raising the cost of the device, subsidy, etc). Making 700 Mhz a global frequency will be much harder to accomplish as 2.5GHz has been around for some time now.