Opinions on WiMAX thought to be poles apart

3 November 2004 News

Technology analyst, ABI Research, has found little consensus among wireless industry-watchers about the prospects for WiMAX equipment. These widely divergent opinions are examined in its latest study, 'WiMAX/802.16.'

Pessimists - typically, companies that plan to continue selling proprietary broadband wireless solutions to the SMB and enterprise markets - suggest that WiMAX has no competitive edge relative to current proprietary solutions in the small and medium business and enterprise markets, and that it will fail to be economical for SOHO users.

Others - especially WiMAX vendors aiming for the residential market - embrace a sunnier view, claiming that WiMAX equipment will be used in place of proprietary broadband wireless access (BWA) equipment, competing successfully against cable and DSL, and that 802.16e (the mobile version of WiMAX), will be effective opposition to 3G.

According to Phil Solis, ABI Research's senior analyst of wireless connectivity, the truth lies somewhere in the middle: "While it is true that WiMAX will compete alongside cable and DSL, the technology holds more potential to bring broadband to consumers who do not have access to cable or DSL."

WiMAX is being viewed as a competitor to 3G, he notes, but it is really complementary. WiMAX will serve as a backhaul for 3G towers and also as an augmentation to the network in terms of connectivity. WiMAX will also help Wi-Fi hotspots by providing the backhaul for these hotspots in areas where DSL or T1s would be too expensive.

802.16e, Solis believes, will be 'a great mobile solution' when devices start to appear in 2005, but will still have to carve out its place next to established 3G infrastructures. "Some companies," he notes, "are convinced that the spectral efficiencies of 802.16 and some 3G solutions are comparable."

www.abiresearch.com

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