In China, Nascent WiMAX Service Faces Barriers

WiMAX has an excellent opportunity to expand China's market for fixed, portable, and mobile broadband access, reports In-Stat. However, WiMAX development in China is still confronting some barriers: immature 802.16e product, competition from the 3G industry, and uncertain spectrum allocation, the high-tech market research firm says. Therefore, equipment and subscriber forecasts depend on how the industry deals with these issues.

"WiMAX does have many advantages in cost, flexibility, and deployment convenience," says Kevin Li, In-Stat analyst. "WiMAX is a data network access technology, which means no circuit switching (CS) domain is required, whereas 3G, the alternative technology, is divided into CS and packet switching (PS) domains, which carry voice and data, respectively."

Recent research by In-Stat found the following:

* In-Stat forecasts that, in an aggressive scenario, the subscriber base will increase from 8,000 in 2005 to 3,525,070 by 2010.
* In a conservative scenario, the subscriber base will grow to 1,234,120 by 2010.
* In early 2006, China Netcom began to deploy WiMAX 802.16-2004 systems (3.5GHz) for fixed wireless access (voice and data) in the Guangdong province, aimed at SMBs and the residential market.

The research, WiMAX Market in China: The Next PHS , evaluates market potential for WiMAX, the technologies that will compete with WiMAX, and the potential outcomes in China. More information on this research is available at http://www.in-stat.com.