Infringement by WiMax Could Threaten Wi-Fi's Penetration, Says Study

The introduction of mobility into the WiMAX roadmap -- said a release today from Frost & Sullivan -- as well as the expensive roll-out of 3G services in many areas of the world, has created concerns about WiMAX being a direct competitor to 3G. This concern is more prominently witnessed in the Asian region. The combination of 2.5G such as EDGE with WiMAX could be seen as a far less expensive business model compared to the 3G-deployment model.

New analysis from Frost & Sullivan, World Wi-Fi and WiMAX Chipsets Markets, reveals that the revenue in this WiMAX chipsets industry totaled $18 million in 2005 and projects to reach $257.3 million in 2008.

"Despite some of the underlying theoretical cost benefits of WiMAX, 3G should not be written off," says Frost & Sullivan Research Analyst Vinoth Praveen. "3G has a considerable head start. It is well and truly present in most developed markets such as Europe and covers the majority of the population. In contrast, the development and deployment of WiMAX is still a long way [off]. There is yet a degree of standardization to achieve in WiMAX, especially on the mobility front."

However, the introduction of products based on WiBro and the demonstration of their performance will serve to boost the "mobile WiMAX" industry.