Indian WiMAX : Interesting informations

Indian WiMAX interesting Facts
1. Once deployed, BSNL’s WiMAX network will be the largest in the world.

2. With WiMAX subscriber base expected to reach 19 million by 2012 and WiMAX equipment market value projected to top US$600 million eventually following the auction of 2.3GHz and 2.5GHz licenses, Indian WiMAX market presents enormous business opportunities. India is slated to become the largest WiMAX market in the Asia-Pacific by 2013. A recent study sees India’s WiMAX subscriber base hitting 14 million by Year 2013 and grow annually at nearly 130% which means that in the next four years about 20 per cent of the global WiMAX users will be in India, making it a $13-billion market.

3. Emerging markets are regarded as the primary market for the WiMAX industry, specifically India, whose market is expected to grow significantly. Currently, the number of people using broadband in India is relatively low. There are only 4.5 million users out of a population of 120 million. Therefore, it is certainly a great opportunity for WiMAX operators to increase their coverage area. It is predicted that there will be 27 million WiMAX users in India before 2012, which would account for 20% of the worldwide WiMAX market. These days, Indian operators, have already deployed a 802.16d fixed WiMAX network between 3.3GHz-3.4GHz. Some of them have already finished deployment in many cities. According to the data from the Indian government, the economic growth rate continues to rise 9% each year and mobile consumers continue to increase by roughly 8 million users each month. After the issuance of licenses for WiMAX network deployment, it is expected to bring large-scale business opportunities for purchasing WiMAX equipment and terminal products.

4. India probably will see the world’s lowest end -to-end cost for WiMAX service and will drive costs down further than any other market. Integrated operators will erect WiMAX towers along with CDMA towers and derive further cost advantages. Third-party radio-tower companies have emerged within the last year in India who offer managed tower services for cellular operators. An extension of this would be to provide nationwide WiMAX tower services in managed -service mode. Bringing together thousands of towers is bound to create additional cost benefits to the WiMAX operator.

5. Currently, cellular operators are deriving a 15 -18% cost advantage from shared tower services. The Internet user population in India will have exceeded 200 million. This will be made possible by lower -cost PCs and notebooks, CPEs below US$40, and cheaper broadband service. It is predicted to accumulate 21 million BWA subscribers by 2014, counting both residential and business segments. WiMAX subscribers should represent the majority of this figure.

6. Approximately 66% of the WiMAX subscribers will be mobile 802.16-2005, predominately residential, while fixed WiMAX will continue to be driven by large corporations and, to a lesser extent, by SME customers

7. The Indian market for WiMAX will continue to be one of the most sought after markets for global equipment vendors. The nation promises to offer huge, consistently high growth for the next several years, judging by its extremely low broadband penetration rates
(under 3 million for a population of over 1 billion).

(Thanks to the authors)