Global WiMAX 2.3 Million In Q2 - Xohm Tipping Point, Says Maravedis

By Reporter Wireless and Mobile News on October 8, 2008 1:12 PM

BWA and WiMAX subscribers worldwide reached 2.3 million in Q2 2008 - a 19% growth over the first quarter and a 70% increase over Q2 2007, according to the 5th issue of the WiMAXCounts Quarterly Report from Maravedis.

"Global service revenues continue to rise thanks to subscriber growth and despite the fact that ARPUs remain unchanged in the last quarter. However the average subscriber base per deployment remains very modest at 15,000 and contributes to the challenging lack of volumes facing the emerging device ecosystem. The launch of Xohm by Sprint-Clearwire represents the beginning of a tipping point for the industry," noted Adlane Fellah, CEO and founder of Maravedis. Robert Syputa, partner, added that "the tipping points are more deeply felt than some suppose. As awareness deepens, confidence in WiMAX technology, and the disruptive incubator nature of the WIMAX business creation model, is growing."

"Mobile WiMAX does not need hundreds of deployments to be successful. It needs 4-5 champions with deep pockets per region to drive future volumes - something which is now quietly taking shape" added Adlane Fellah.

"We have seen an increasing interest from operators in mobile WiMAX," added Jeff Orr, co-author of the Quarterly Report. "We attribute the slow increase of proprietary deployed CPEs mainly to operators upgrading their networks to offer pure WiMAX, either in its fixed '16d' or mobile-capable '16e' versions."

THIS QUARTER'S SUMMARY FINDINGS

Q2 2008 BWA/WiMAX service revenue among WiMAXCounts operators totaled US$ 426 million, as compared to $US 366 million during the previous quarter - an increase of over 21%
Maravedis expects total service revenues to double in 2008 compared to 2007
Residential subscribers are representing an increasingly larger proportion of the user mix at 67% and that is a condition for reaching large volumes
The largest mobile WiMAX deployments during Q2 2008 are from Korea Telecom, with nearly 190,000 subscribers, and Wateen Telecom (Pakistan) with more than 25,000 subscribers.
The number of CPEs 802.16e-2005 installed increased 94% quarter-over-quarter, compared to a 21% quarterly increase for 802.16-2004 CPEs, and only a 4% increase for proprietary CPEs (most from Clearwire USA).
Approximately 65% of the worldwide deployments occurred in the 3.5 GHz spectrum, while only 16% in 2.5 GHz.
The average residential and business users ARPU remained stable in the last quarter.
64% of operators analyzed offer high-speed-internet (HSI); 50% of these also offer VoIP, nearly 20% offer IPTV + HSI + VoIP, and 26% offer VPN services.

More raw data, interviews, and comprehensive analyses can be found in the 5th Issue of WiMAXCounts Quarterly Report. It includes an even more detailed analysis of licenses, service offerings, applications, business plans, ARPU, and total revenues, based on data gathered by regional analysts and validated by operators themselves.