ABI: Increased Interest in WiMAX Will Impact Cellular M2M Market

October 30, 2007 // Published as a news service by IHS

WiMAX is even more spectrally efficient and cost-effective to operate in carrier networks when compared with wideband code division multiple access (W-CDMA) and CDMA Evolution-Data Optimized (EV-DO), analysts said, making WiMAX suitable for low data rate, low average revenue per user (ARPU) M2M applications - when and where WiMAX connectivity is available.

According to ABI Research senior analyst Sam Lucero, Sprint and Clearwire are the two most significant service providers deploying WiMAX in the U.S.

"Sprint, a CDMA-based operator, has selected WiMAX as its path to 4G [fourth generation] service offerings," he said.

"Sprint will work with Clearwire - a Craig McCaw startup that has received $600 million in venture backing from Intel and $300 million from Motorola - to provide joint coverage to each other's respective customers on the nationwide WiMAX networks deployed by the two companies."

Lucero said Sprint is rapidly deploying WiMAX infrastructure in North America and believes WiMAX is well-suited to deliver cost-effective, wide area M2M services.

There is also growing interest in Europe in the deployment of WiMAX. Analysts said there are indications suggesting an interest in employing WiMAX for M2M applications, such as advanced metering infrastructure (AMI).

Sprint and Clearwire are only two among a number of interested parties. "Intel is a key member of a developing WiMAX ecosystem that includes network infrastructure equipment vendors, Motorola and Samsung, as well as CPE [customer premises equipment] vendors such as ZyXEL and Accton," Lucero said. "Intel expects nearly a few dozen operators to have deployed WiMAX by 2012."

Municipal Wi-Fi can be deployed at a very low cost and is well-suited for select M2M applications, analysts said, such as AMI, public safety telematics and video surveillance.

Source: ABI Research.