WiMAX: Paving the road from fixed to mobile broadband access

In the meantime, commercial WiMAX networks have been launched and intense demand for affordable broadband connectivity is aggressively driving growth in new WiMAX deployments. In many developed markets the pace of broadband adoption is slowing down, but most emerging markets are witnessing an impressive growth. In Vietnam, the number of broadband subscribers more than doubled over the last year, while in Eastern Europe, India, Middle East and Africa, adoption grew by more than 50%. In these countries, the wired infrastructure is typically insufficient to meet demand from potential subscribers and its expansion is often deemed too expensive. WiMAX Forum Certified products from companies such as Redline Communications, which has established a strong footprint in these emerging markets, as well as Alvarion and Aperto, who were also among the first to have certified WiMAX products, are providing the standardized solutions for which carriers in these markets have been waitng. 

In contrast, the willingness to pay for mobile broadband connectivity is still limited. In Europe, Vodafone had signed up only 700,000 3G laptop subscribers as of March 2006 (less than 1% of its subscribers). In the US, Verizon has a comparable number of EV-DO data-only subscriptions. While demand is set to grow rapidly as more devices and more affordable services become available, most mobile operators do not believe that a mobile data-only network is a priority today, especially as they have plenty of capacity available in their new 3G networks.

The fixed-access market is ideal for WiMAX. The initial cost of subscriber devices has been relatively high, but it is starting to decrease, making WiMAX a cost-effective technology for basic broadband connectivity, especially in emerging countries where new wired networks are too expensive to roll out and more difficult to protect. A rigorous certification process managed by the WiMAX Forum ensures interoperability among different vendors' base stations and subscriber devices and that gives operators more flexibility in choosing the equipment and in the selection of vendors. Especially in the most widely adopted bands (the 3.5 GHz and the 2.5 GHz bands), WiMAX is a safe choice for wireless operators, as it has quickly become the dominant broadband wireless technology, with its support from multiple vendors and its long-term development roadmap that includes fixed, portable and mobile services.

The demand for fixed-broadband access can be reliably estimated and addressed through well-focused deployments that are restricted to those areas with a high concentration of high-paying subscribers. This approach allows operators to start by directing available financial resources to the most profitable market segments and then, as the price of subscriber devices decreases, address the wider market. In a further stage, operators may decide to expand the network to support mobility. A mobile network requires substantially greater resources and takes longer to deploy, as it requires city-wide or nationwide coverage. The option of mobility is only open to those operators with suitable licenses (some regulators do not allow mobile services in the 3.5 GHz band, for instance) and that operate below 3 GHz, where mobile services can be more cost-effectively deployed.

"The current market focus on fixed services enables operators to reach new customers and it accelerates the initial adoption of WiMAX," said Kevin Suitor, Vice President, Marketing and Business Development, Redline Communications Inc. "It also plays a crucial role in paving the way for the success of mobile services down the road."

Early fixed deployments will establish the economies of scale that are needed to lower the price of subscriber devices and enable operators to gradually increase the scope and functionality of their WiMAX networks, growing them as the demand for broadband services grows.