The WiMAX equipment revenues will reach $30bn from 2011 to 2016, while mobile WiMAX subscribers will grow globally four-fold through 2016, according to a new study from Visant Strategies.
The company said that the new specifications for mobile WiMAX accompanied by worldwide growth of fixed/portable WiMAX will be the key factors behind WiMAX penetration and creation of a sizable WiMAX equipment market through the next decade.
According to the report, ‘Fixed, Portable and Mobile WiMAX: Building a Market Today and Influencing Choices Tomorrow,’ the new specification for 802.16m addresses a number of system shortcomings within 802.16e while improving costs and increasing the appeal of WiMAX in emerging economies and helping blur the line between fixed and mobile services as handoff and uplink capabilities are improved.
Andy Fuertes from Visant Strategies said: "Most mobile carriers have committed to LTE for 4G, sometimes after HSPA plus, but WiMAX equipment makers will still enjoy a vigorous market. Low cost PC initiatives, falling WiMAX costs and the global availability of the 3.5GHz band for basic fixed broadband services presents a very large opportunity for WiMAX equipment vendors."
Larry Swasey from Visant Strategies said: "There will be a very large fixed broadband audience by 2016, over one billion according to the findings in the report, and fixed/portable WiMAX will account for a good share of this audience and help seed the mobile WiMAX applications as these same carriers expand their coverage area in many emerging regions.
"We are already seeing WiMAX deployments in emerging economies that allow intra- and inter-city portability, the beginning of the seeding."
