Global WiMAX deployments rose to over 500 in 2009 despite continuing economic woes, according to a report from the WiMAX Forum.
In all, there were 519 WiMAX-based wireless broadband Internet deployments in 146 countries. Ninety-five of those networks were deployed by 2G operators that chose to skip a deployment of third-generation technology. More than a fifth of the total deployments occurred over the past year.
“Despite the global economy, WiMAX is going strong in 2009,” said Ron Resnick, president and chairman of the WiMAX Forum, in a statement. “We expect 2010 to bring new innovations to the WiMAX ecosystem with completion of the IEEE 802.16m standard, commercialization of the global roaming program and new WiMAX Forum programs to help bring certified devices to retail channels faster.”
The forum’s WiMAX Release 2 based on the IEEE 802.16m standard landed backing from several big name vendors, including Alvarion, Huawei, ZTE and Motorola. The forum plans to finalize its WiMAX Release 2 specification in 2010. The new specification will be backward compatible with legacy WiMAX technology based on IEEE 802.16e.
Daryl Schoolar, principal wireless infrastructure analyst at Current Analysis, said that WiMAX deployments continued to improve despite this past year’s tough economic climate.
“Operators such as Packet One, Yota and Clearwire continued to expand their network footprints. Device form factors continued to improve, with more functionality and eye-pleasing packaging,” he said in a statement. “I expect in 2010 not only will network deployment stories turn into subscriber stories, but we will see true commercial WiMAX roaming between operators supported by multi-band devices.”
Russian operator Yota reached 250,000 active commercial users on its WiMAX network and was able to break even thanks to the addition of more than 2,300 subscribers per day. Sixty-five WiMAX-enabled devices were introduced to the Russian market in April 2009. Yota expects to add a new GSM + Mobile WiMAX phone supporting VoIP over WiMAX in 2010.
The forum said that growth remains strong in several international markets, including the United States, Asia and Europe.
In the U.S., Clearwire now has more than 555,000 subscribers with ARPU of nearly $40. Malaysia’s Packet One Networks has reached 130,000 subscribers. Korea Telecom (KT) covers more than half of the Korean population, and UQ Communications in Japan now covers more than half of that county’s population by offering services to consumers through more than 20 partners.
In Ireland, Imagine launched its country-wide mobile WiMAX network. UK operator Freedom4 received approval to offer mobile WiMAX services on the nationwide 3.6GHz spectrum.
The WiMAX Forum has several initiatives planned for 2010, including the certification of mobile WiMAX 2.3 GHz products; the launch of its Open Retail Certification Program; and the commercialization and deployment of its global roaming program.