WiMAX Subscribers Approaching 2 Million

March 27, 2008

The latest edition of the WiMAXCounts Quarterly Report from Maravedis shows a fourth quarter 2007 increase of 350,000 in the global BWA/WiMAX subscriber base, to a total of 1,728,000 subscribers. Adlane Fellah, CEO and founder of Maravedis, points to the need for equipment certification and reduced prices for customer premises equipment (CPE) before WiMAX can experience rapid growth. He notes: "Even with an increase of more than 20 percent in WiMAX subscribers in the last quarter of 2007, operators are still waiting for the tipping point that will lead to acceleration of WiMAX adoption and deployments. The key factors mainly center on certification of mobile WiMAX equipment, a reduction in CPE pricing, and the emergence of a device ecosystem."

Cintia Garza, co-author of the WiMAXCounts Quarterly Report, adds "Many operators are holding back their network expansion pending the mobile WiMAX 802.16e equipment certification, which was postponed to the second half of 2008. Mobile WiMAX is a key enabler of a wider range of value-added services and product flexibility."

www.maravedis.com

About the Author

Jack Browne

Technical Contributor

Jack Browne, Technical Contributor, has worked in technical publishing for over 30 years. He managed the content and production of three technical journals while at the American Institute of Physics, including Medical Physics and the Journal of Vacuum Science & Technology. He has been a Publisher and Editor for Penton Media, started the firm’s Wireless Symposium & Exhibition trade show in 1993, and currently serves as Technical Contributor for that company's Microwaves & RF magazine. Browne, who holds a BS in Mathematics from City College of New York and BA degrees in English and Philosophy from Fordham University, is a member of the IEEE.