WiMAX-IMUM RETURNS

Maravedis is one of the few consulting and research firms with a specialization in broadband wireless technologies, recently publishing a report showing broadband wireless access equipment would grow into a $1.6 billion global industry in 2008. Senior Analyst Adlane Fellah recently agreed to an e-mail interview with Telephony's Kevin Fitchard on the rebirth of BWA technologies and associated standards such as WiMAX.

On the rejuvenation of the broadband wireless space: The demand for greater bandwidth is the primary market driver for broadband wireless services, hence the increased demand for equipment. Business users demand more and more bandwidth because productivity requires the increased use of multimedia platforms to communicate and work. In addition, businesses are becoming more international in scope and there is an associated explosion in the number of remote and branch offices. Finally, there is immense growth in the number of small office/home office users. With the growing popularity of teleworking, the boundaries between residential and business applications are also becoming increasingly blurred. All these facts conspire to drive the demand for broadband services and equipment.

Customers are eating up DSL lines like never before. That increased availability of service and greater awareness of its capabilities is creating an opportunity for BWA. Considering the coverage limitations of DSL and the lack of availability of cable outside North America, carriers will turn increasingly towards BWA as a viable alternative to fill in the “holes.” Governments worldwide are also driving the growth of BWA through frequency allocation and programs that subsidize deployments. Those governments see broadband wireless as a way to reduce the digital divide between high- and low-density areas.

On BWA deployment strategies: Now for service providers to deliver the bandwidth and associated services in a profitable way using BWA equipment, they need to consider a combination of factors, depending on the environment in which they operate and whom they’re competing against. In a rural environment, there is often no other broadband alternative than wireless. There the current generation equipment is pretty much doing the job, even though cheaper equipment resulting from standardization will always help. In a more competitive environment, in order for BWA to become a viable alternative to DSL or cable it needs, above all, true Plug & Play capabilities--avoiding the associated costs of truck rolls--and true non-line-of-sight capabilities within a decent radius (eight miles or more) of the base station.

On whether BWA will move beyond fixed wireless to a truly mobile environment: Approved in February 2002 by the IEEE, the 802.16.e standard is aiming to provide broadband access to the mobile user walking around with a PDA or laptop, while 802.20, if it ever materializes, will address high-speed mobility issues.  An amendment to 802.16 known as the wireless metropolitan area network (MAN) standard will enable a single base station to support both fixed and mobile BWA. It’s intended to fill the gap between high data-rate wireless local area networks and high mobility cellular wide area networks. Today at least eight major BWA vendors we’ve interviewed are committed to implementing 802.16e in their product roadmaps. More importantly, more service providers, many of them mobile players, are joining WiMAX ranks. This trend will be a driving force in the implementation of specifications that make business sense for carriers to provide a mix of fixed/mobile services. We believe Intel will start implementing its 802.16e chipsets in laptops starting in 2006. We also believe mobile operators who are already adopting Wi-Fi for hot spots will embrace WiMAX as they move to some form of IP-based systems. Motorola and Cisco (which backs Flarion) are the big backers of 802.20 and are clashing with Intel and Nokia in the standards race to deliver components to mobile broadband devices.