4G Now

Mobile WiMAX Market Continued to Ramp in Late 2008

According to a recently published report by Dell’Oro Group, the trusted source for market information about the networking and telecommunications industries, the worldwide mobile WiMAX infrastructure revenues nearly quadrupled in the third quarter of 2008 (the most recent quarter with available market information) over the third quarter of 2007.

“With LTE still a couple of years away, WiMAX has, in fact, become the first next generation technology with commercial service,” commented Scott Siegler, Senior Analyst of Mobile Infrastructure research at Dell’Oro Group. “Mobile WiMAX revenues were very strong in the third quarter of last year, and we anticipate revenue for the fourth quarter to set another record. However, as we look into 2009, we expect the WiMAX market to be hit rather hard by the economic downturn. Building out brand new networks from scratch requires tens, if not hundreds, of millions of dollars of capital. Compounding the tightening in the credit markets, the increasing cost of capital and the decrease in demand for broadband data as consumer spending weakens, we anticipate many network buildouts will be put on hold or delayed into 2010. With initial LTE rollouts coming in the 2010 to 2011 timeframe, these delays will shorten the time to market advantage WiMAX currently has over LTE,” Siegler continued.

Released by Dell’Oro Group

$8.6 Billion LTE Base Station Forecast Shows There is Still Enthusiasm for Deployment

More than eighteen operators globally have announced LTE deployment plans, and the tough economy does not seem to have dampened their enthusiasm. In fact, Verizon has announced acceleration of its LTE deployment timetable, bringing the launch forward from 2010 to 2009. Many of the others are looking at a 2011-2012 timeframe, by which time, they hope, much of the current pain will have passed.

According to ABI Research senior analyst Nadine Manjaro, “ABI Research believes that NTT will also deploy LTE in Japan in 2009. We forecast that by 2013 operators will spend over $8.6 billion on LTE base station infrastructure alone. For operators that have already deployed 3G networks, LTE will be a key CAPEX driver over the next five years.”

LTE application development will also drive investment as operators work to determine which services to deploy on this high speed, low latency network.

Sprint and Verizon have both announced that they will provide third-party access to their GPS data. ”The resulting new applications will tie mobility and presence aspects together to create more compelling services than in the past,” says Manjaro. “This is significant because it represents the beginning of a new generation of application development which will leverage the vast amounts of data in operators’ networks.”

Application developers already talking to these carriers include WaveMarket, Inc. and uLocate Communications, Inc.

Released by ABI Research

WiBro Loser iRiver Coming Back with Network Device

The mp3 player maker, based in Seoul, unveiled several network devices at CES in Las Vegas, Nevada, including WAVE-HOME.  The full-touch screen equipped WAVE-HOME is composed of a body and wireless handset that is able to offer various information like local information, real-time traffic information, as well as stock and news service through an alliance with telecommunications companies.

Reigncom has also demontsrated a VoIP phone, 'iRiver Wave Phone,' which is able to connect web browsing service.

In 2006, the iRiver maker declared its intention to enter the WiBro market as a pioneer and had put its strength on the fledgling business. Although the company had worked closely with WiBro operator KT Koran and provided its WiBro device G10 model to Omnivision in Venezuela. The problem was that the WiBro market did not boom in Korea or abroad. About two years after entering the WiBro market, the company dropped its WiBro business after suffering big losses in the area.

WiBro Still Facing Difficulties

Even though government hopes to promote WiBro, the Korean version of mobile WiMAX, to lessen the burden for consumers and drive growth in Korea’s information technology industry, it seems that WiBro's future is in question.

The Korea Communications Commission (KCC), the country's broadcasting and telecommunications regulator, proposed new ideas for boosting the WiBro service, such as allowing voice calls on WiBro-enabled devices and requiring a number for using the service, as in mobile phones. The KCC expects these offerings will increase local demand of WiBro service to 1 million subscribers by 2011. As of December 2008, KT counted 180,000 WiBro subscribers, while SK Telecom had 11,000. 

WiBro was depending on cable television operators to expand availability of the service as a way of expanding beyond a saturated pay-TV market. But cable providers are thinking twice because of the initial upfront investment required. These operators also need a massive investment to change current analog system to digital to compete the newly started IPTV service.

Incumbent WiBro operators KT and SK Telecom also have hesitated to expand WiBro network. SK Telecom has worried that voice calling on WiBro will cannibalize its mobile business. The WiBro front-runner KT is also reluctant to inroad for fear of affecting its affiliate KTF wireless business, and the two companies may merge later this year.

For KT and SK Telecom, voice calling on WiBro is not an urgent issue and the need for cable operators to enter the telecom market may not materialize in a short time, Jong-in Yang, analyst of Korea Investment & Securities said in a recent report.