WiMAX spending to rocket, says telecom group
Wireless industry spending on infrastructure required to deploy the emerging WiMAX standard will rocket from just $15 million recorded last year to $290 million in 2008.
That's according to an analysis of the market by the Telecommunications Industry Association (TIA), based in Arlington, VA.
WiMAX is a broadband wireless access technology that uses a fixed, outdoor-mounted antenna similar to a small satellite dish to provide a broadband connection with users up to 50 km away.
Operating in the 2-11 GHz window, WiMAX could offer a sizeable market opportunity to GaAs-based chip manufacturers in the future. And the Warren, NJ, firm Anadigics recently said that it had received a volume order for its InGaP HBT power amplifiers to be used in WiMAX applications.
In its 2005 market review and forecast, the TIA says that it expects WiMAX infrastructure revenue to increase "dramatically" in the next few years.
"With the Wi-Fi and WiMAX markets expanding rapidly, we will begin to see more demand for mobile broadband and broadband connectivity," said TIA president Matthew Flanigan.
"It is likely that both of these markets will stimulate the overall broadband market to the benefit of all technologies."
Although it will eventually be mobile, WiMAX will never achieve the nationwide coverage of a cellular network, says the TIA in its report.
Initial shipments of WiMAX equipment will be for backhaul applications, connecting hot spots with the Internet, it adds.
According to the TIA, the WiMAX infrastructure market in the US will be worth $115 million this year, rising to $180 million in 2006, $230 million in 2007 and $290 million in 2008.
