Interest in WiMax wide area wireless networking technology is accelerating
rapidly in the Asia Pacific region, but technology and business uncertainties
remain, according to new research.
Analyst firm In-Stat estimates that the total Asia Pacific market, including
WiMax customer premises equipment, base stations and commercial services, but
excluding the non-radio-access element of WiMax, will be valued at $106.4m in
2006, growing to $4.3bn in 2011.
"No Asia Pacific service provider can ignore WiMax," said In-Stat analyst
Victor Liu. "Providers need either to evaluate the possibility of adding WiMax
to their existing services portfolio, or to assess the competitive pressure from
other WiMax service providers."
The In-Stat research warned that equipment vendors, including chipset and
equipment makers and system technology providers, will have to act very quickly
to adopt the latest technical specifications and optimise equipment performance.
The study noted that trial network deployments are in progress in at least 13
Asia Pacific countries.
Many service providers in developing countries such as India, Thailand, the
Philippines and Indonesia have shown great interest in setting up WiMax networks
and extending telecoms services coverage to under-served locations.
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