Asia to dominate WiMax market by 2013

Asia will account for over half of all mobile WiMax subscribers by 2013, equating to over 40 million subscribers, according to Juniper Research.

Juniper's country by country analysis found WiMax well suited to rapid deployment in underserved areas such as India, Korea, Pakistan and Australia.

Government programmes in countries such as Taiwan will help to support this growth, pushing the overall 802.16e market to sales of $23bn by 2013.

"We anticipate that mobile WiMax use will develop after initial demand for fixed and portable services. 802.16e is a flexible platform that can operate in all three modes of use," said Juniper analyst Howard Wilcox, the report's author.

"Mobile WiMax will represent a single digit proportion of the Asian mobile broadband base by 2013, which will be a tremendous achievement for this new platform."

However, the report warned that the availability of suitable devices, and the award of licences, will be important factors in determining success in Asia and worldwide.

"Mobile WiMax will be a device-based technology, whether on handsets, laptops, datacards or other types of consumer device such as media players," said Wilcox.

"Any lack of availability will inhibit market take-up. Over the next year licences in countries such as India, Japan and Thailand, as well as in other regions, will be auctioned. Timely award of these licences will accelerate market development."

Juniper's research forecasts mobile WiMax subscribers to reach over 80 million worldwide by 2013, with Japan, South Korea and the US leading the market.

The researchers also believe that these predictions could be exceeded if the platform is integrated into devices such as low-cost laptops, portable music players and games consoles.