2.1 billion mobile broadband customers by 2015, says Analysys Mason

Wireless broadband services will create significant opportunities for revenue growth, and cellular technologies will take the largest share, according to a report from Analysys Mason.

Globally, 2.1 billion wireless broadband customers will generate USD784 billion in service revenue by 2015. This revenue increase of about 2400% will be underpinned by continued developments in wireless technologies, improvements in devices and more flexible pricing options.
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Mercury unveils WiMAX car navigation system for Korea

Mercury has presented its high-end built-in car navigation system ‘MD5000′ supporting mobile broadband Internet service. By adopting KT WiBro device, it delivers faster speed than HSDPA even while moving at a speed of up to 120 km/h.

Equipped with Monahan 624 MHz processor, LG’s DMB chipset and PIP chipset independently, the MD5000 features ‘Mappy United’ map software, POP (picture out picture), PIP (picture in picture), NIP (navigation in picture) and drag & drop functions. It also provides trip display dedicated respectively to QUUS, OPIRUS, SM5/7, WINSTORM, TOSCA, and more.
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Falling WiMAX Chipset Prices Spell Good News for Adoption of Smaller Mobile Devices

The WiMAX chipset market is advancing quickly. There are solid 2-chip designs consisting of a single-chip baseband IC and a single-chip RF IC that are bringing power consumption down. Beceem, GCT Semiconductor, and Sequans have single-chip designs that include both the baseband and RF. Most importantly, WiMAX chipset ASPs are dropping rapidly.

“Even as the mobile WiMAX chipset market has barely gotten its feet wet, chipset ASPs are declining rapidly due to heavy competition and greater integration in designs,” says ABI Research principal analyst Philip Solis. “Prices for the baseband and RF components of the chipset have come down from the $35 range a few years ago to below $25, and will drop below $10 in 2011. These falling WiMAX chipset prices are critical for inclusion of the technology in smaller mobile devices.”
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WiMAX Services Revenues in Asia Pacific to Surge to US$5.5 Billion by 2012, Says Springboard Research

WiMAX is expected to gather strong momentum in the Asia Pacific region with WiMAX services revenues estimated to grow from US$58 million in 2007 to US$5.46 billion by 2012, according to the latest report by Springboard Research, a leading innovator in the IT market research industry. This translates to a compounded annual growth rate (CAGR) of 148% for the period.

The report, titled “Laying the Foundation: WiMAX in Asia/Pacific 2008”, further estimated the number of WiMAX subscribers to grow from 230,000 in 2007 to 33.9 million by 2012. Mobile WiMAX services are estimated to garner a significant majority of revenues and subscribers compared to fixed WiMAX services during the forecast period.
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Malaysia’s First WiMAX License Holder Packet One Networks Enhances WiMAX Launch Readiness

Packet One Networks (P1), a leading communications service provider in Malaysia, has selected Oracle Communications Billing and Revenue Management to support its new WiMAX services, scheduled for rollout this month. The implementation is an important milestone in P1’s plan to become Malaysia’s first WiMAX service provider and longer-term goal of becoming Malaysia’s leading converged communications service provider.

— P1, a subsidiary of Green Packet Berhad and a WiMAX license-holder,
will implement Oracle Communications Billing and Revenue Management to
provide a unified backend platform to help improve its time to market
for new services and lower operational costs. Accenture, a Certified
Advantage Partner of the Oracle PartnerNetwork, is leading the
implementation. The application is one of several key building blocks
P1 is using to deliver a positive customer experience.
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Wavesat samples Mobile WiMAX, Wi-Fi, XG-PHS multi-mode chipset

Wavesat today introduced its new family of 4G Broadband Wireless chipset named Odyssey, with a multi-mode 4G architecture enabling WiMAX Wave2, Wi-Fi, XG-PHS and seamless migration to future 4G technologies such as LTE.

The first product in the Odyssey family, the Odyssey 8500, is powered by a multi-core architecture incorporating multiple ultra low power DSPs, offering flexibility, high performance and low power consumption, without any trade off. The SOC manufactured using advanced Embedded DRAM technology requires no external memory, thus saving customers valuable real estate, cost and power consumption for very small form-factor portable and mobile applications such as wireless USB dongle, mobile handsets and other consumer electronic devices.
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Mio Group Plans Launch of Mobile Voice and Wireless Broadband Internet Services in Aruba, Bonaire, and Curacao

Mio, a provider of broadband mobile communication services in the Caribbean Islands, announced that it will soon be launching mobile voice, broadband Internet access and WiMAX services in Aruba, Bonaire, and Curacao. Mio will be the first in the Caribbean to offer affordable unlimited wireless broadband Internet access and voice plans that include voicemail and unlimited texting. In addition, Mio will also offer the fastest wireless Internet connectivity available through its wireless broadband service. WiMAX, Mio’s business offering, primarily targets the growing needs of the business and corporate community through powerful broadband Internet connectivity in the office. Mio differentiates itself from competitors with its unique global assets, solutions, and rigorous dedication to customer satisfaction. Mio aims to help customers around the world to benefit from IP services that are global in scale, linking the world’s wireless consumers, enterprises, governments and carriers with customers, employees and partners worldwide in a secure environment that is ideally suited for secure wireless IP-based applications. The company also offers a full range of data, voice and broadband products thus creating a complete communications solution for consumers and businesses alike.

The “iNET” brand, Mio’s EV-DO high speed Internet, provides mobile users with always-on access to email and the Internet anywhere in the Caribbean Islands where Mio has coverage. EV-DO also enables faster data transfer rates. This allows the user to be connected wherever they are — providing not only for the use of email but for downloading large files, music, photos, spreadsheets, etc. Users can also work on a large variety of applications including Microsoft Office Suite. In addition, this technology allows rich web browsing and application usage.
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Mobile WiMAX to Level the Asia-Pacific Playing Field

While most Asia-Pacific countries are still processing spectrum bidding, manufacturers and application vendors are aggressively entering mobile WiMAX markets. As the market for mobile WiMAX expands, manufacturers are targeting new customer segments, and there will be a correspondingly huge opportunity in APAC regions.

“Because mobile WiMAX is aimed at untapped markets, almost all vendors including start-ups could be on equal footing with the larger, more established players,” says ABI Research senior analyst Andy Bae. “They will find significant opportunities in APAC.”
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Sprint and Clearwire form joint venture to deploy WiMAX in United States

Clearwire Corporation and Sprint Nextel Corporation today announced that they have entered into a definitive agreement to combine their next-generation wireless broadband businesses to form a new wireless communications company.

The new company, which will be named Clearwire, will be focused on expediting the deployment of the first nationwide mobile WiMAX network to provide a true mobile broadband experience for consumers, small businesses, medium and large enterprises, public safety organizations and educational institutions. The new Clearwire expects to dramatically enhance the speed and manner in which customers access all that the Internet has to offer at home, in the office and on the road.
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Libya Telecom Technology Selects Alcatel-Lucent to Build Mobile WiMAX

Alcatel-Lucent announced that it has been awarded a contract by LTT (Libya Telecom and Technology), the national Internet Service Provider in Libya, to deploy the first commercial WiMAX network based on the 802.16e-2005 WiMAX standard, in Libya. LTT plans to launch the commercial service on the network in September 2008.

The new network will support voice over IP (VoIP) and high-speed internet access, enabling the delivery of advanced broadband multimedia services, such as video streaming, through a variety of end-user including modems and WiMAX terminals. It will also accommodate stationary, nomadic and mobile applications and complement the carrier’s existing fixed-based broadband services.
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Motorola and Advanced Info Service Launch WiMAX Trials in Thailand

Motorola, Inc. is working with Advanced Info Service (AIS), the largest mobile operator in Thailand, to conduct trials of mobile WiMAX solutions. The trials will enable AIS to gain insight into the next generation personal wireless broadband services.

AIS started trials over Motorola’s WiMAX Access Point-400 (WAP-400) platform in Bangkok and Lamlukka in the first quarter of 2008. The operator is studying performance of real-life applications over the mobile WiMAX network, and customer usage models in metropolitan, suburban and rural areas.
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WiMAX Forum Announces First North American Applications Lab in Collaboration with University of Maryland

The WiMAX Forum today announced it has named the MAXWell Lab at the University of Maryland as home to the first WiMAX Forum endorsed applications lab in North America. Companies located in the United States and across the globe will benefit from and be able to more quickly take advantage of new applications for the mobile broadband Internet as a result of the WiMAX applications testing and development work conducted at the MAXWell Lab.

Designed to be an environment where future innovators from the university and corporations can develop and test new WiMAX applications, the MAXWell Lab will support application testing in a real-live environment at a technologically neutral site. The initial focus of the MAXWell Lab, which is part of the University of Maryland Institute for Advanced Computer Studies, will be location-aware applications. For example, with the deployments of WiMAX in the Washington D.C. area, the Maryland-based MAXWell Lab will be an ideal site to test any applications that run on that system.
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LTE to lead OFDM-based technologies by 2014, says Visant Strategies

The early favorite in 4G wireless is the long-term roadmap for UMTS, LTE, but other technologies are now gaining support, according to a new study by Visant Strategies.

“We see LTE as the leading OFDM-based platform in 2014, accounting for 39 million subscribers and $9 billion in equipment revenues, with the market accelerating the next three years after that as far as subscribers and infrastructure sales go,” said Andy Fuertes of Visant Strategies. “These next six years will lay the foundation for 4G with the market really growing in earnest during the years after that.”
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012 Smile.Communications Reports That its Experimental License to Conduct Fixed & Mobile WiMAX Technology Trials Has Been Extended

012 Smile.Communications announced that its experimental license to conduct WiMAX technology trials in Sderot and a high tech business center in the Tel Aviv area has been extended by Israel’s Ministry of Communications. With respect to the Sderot area - the license was extended until April 7, 2009 and with respect to the Tel Aviv area - the license was extended until September 18, 2009.

In March 2007, 012 Smile.Communications was awarded the first technology experimental license to conduct fixed WiMAX trials in several locations in Israel, including the largest high-tech business center in the Tel Aviv area. The license was later amended to also include mobile WiMAX trials in Sderot area.
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Motorola Expands wi4 WiMAX Access Point Portfolio

Motorola Inc. announced that it is expanding the Motorola wi4 WiMAX access point portfolio with the introduction of the new 802.16e Wave 2-ready WAP 450. The WAP 450 access point uses the recently announced 4G common broadband base control unit. The WAP 450 has a smaller common equipment cabinet and a more powerful tower-top RF module that can improve coverage and capacity by delivering up to 10 watts of power output per sector at the antenna port. The 10 watts of power at the antenna port in WAP 450 is comparable to 20 watts or more power of a traditional ground base station which typically looses half of its power in the RF cables. The new product will be available in the 2.3 GHz, 2.5 GHz and 3.5 GHz frequency bands commonly used by WiMAX operators worldwide.

The WAP 450 is WiMAX Wave 2-ready and incorporates diversity antenna techniques which allow the realization of Multiple-Input, Multiple-Output (MIMO) capability offering greater range performance, improved in building penetration along with full mobility support.
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