Free Newsletter
IMS Research: Mobile WiMAX will be a niche technology
Despite the fact that mobile WiMAX has a time-to-market advantage over LTE by at least two years, analysts at IMS Research believe the technology at best will remain a niche mobile technology. That's because network operators are just now beginning to see a return on their 3G networks and won't be ready to upgrade to an OFDM-based technology until about the time LTE is ready.
The fact that LTE won't be ready for another two to three years may actually turn out to be a boon for LTE as the time frame will allow mobile operators to get as much life as possible out of their existing 3G networks, says a new report from IMS Research. Incremental upgrades to enhanced 3G technologies such as HSPA+ and EV-DO Rev B will allow for almost the same data rates as the initial LTE deployments, which will effectively set the stage for large-scale LTE commercial rollouts in three to four years.
LTE has a further advantage because the majority of cellular operators around the world will choose LTE as their migration path given the fact that 3GPP has tabbed LTE as the next-generation standard for the GSM community.
"The truth is that WiMAX is a very robust technology that has been quite successful in many parts of the world as a fixed broadband solution and will continue to do so, especially in under-served markets," said IMS Research analyst Bob Perez. "Although mobile WiMAX networks are already going live thanks to Sprint/Clearwire and Korea Telecom, the prospect of additional mobile WiMAX networks from Tier 1 operators are looking pretty grim."
For more:
- read this release
Related articles:
Laptop lineup for Sprint's WiMAX service unveiled
Xohm's pricing plans increase chance of service's success
Comments
Posted by Mina Massoud | December 26, 2008 - 1:51pm
I also believe that LTE will spread more than WiMAX and that it is not a matter of time to market advantage.
LTE is offering an all IP environment in core network as well as high data rates over radio access.
Also, one of its biggest advantages is that it can be integrated with almost all existing systems (GSM, WCDMA, HSPA, CDMA, non 3GPP, IMS, ...etc).
This is really a useful article, thanks.
BR/Mina
Posted by Telurian | February 19, 2009 - 10:57am
WiMAX will remain as a niche market... maybe for ever. WiMAX growth is
predicted to be 133 Million Subscribers by the year 2012; By
comparison, the number of Mobile Subscribers will hit 2.8 Billion, the
number of Internet subscribers will hit 2.1 Billion, and the number of
Broadband Subscribers will hit 800 Million. (In 2012, the number of
WiMAX subscribers will equal roughly the number of Mobile and Internet
subscribers seen in 1996... 12 years ago.)
In my opinion, Mobile and Internet users hold the
highest inertia in future shaping, with a 12 year start using Mobile
and Internet Protocols... and the Mobile companies will continue to
own the customer using their adoption of the upcomong LTE 4G platform.
The best of WiMAX technology (OFDMA, subchannelization, rich QOS etc)
will roll into LTE, and WiMAX may eventually become a subset of the
LTE Standard... The Business Case Metrics always beat the Technology
Metrics - meaning, the WiMAX business case will not be implemented
until as much money as possible is made from the current business
case. WiMAX is a cannibol, ready to eat and compete with the likes of
EVDO, EDGE and HSDPA etc, on which the current and very lucrative
business models are based... Why would any company want to jump to a
new set of business metrics, just because the new technology is better
for the end user? WiMAX is great for hard to reach and relatively
small user communities - bring it on and use it. Thinking Mobile WiMAX
will compete in the large cities and high useage areas is folly...
until maybe 2018, when personal video on demand is an actual user
demand... My advice - support the best WiMAX niche players (Niche
markets can provide good ROI)... but keep the serious support on the
large 4G players.
SHARE
WITH:
Comments (2) | Post a comment