LTE Vs WiMAX in Asia: World War IV?
Posted by Sam Churchill on November 16th, 2010Maravedis predicts over 350 million LTE subscribers by 2016, while the number of WiMAX subscribers should reach 50 million. According to 4Gcounts (Issue 12), up to 13 million BWA/WiMAX subscribers are projected by the end of 2010, with more than 600 WiMAX deployments across 149 countries, and more than 200 devices and 60 base stations certified.
Maravedis counts 127 operators that have committed to LTE and predicts there will be 350 million global LTE subscribers by 2016, while the number of WiMAX subscribers will reach 50 million, up from 13 million worldwide at the end of 2010. More than 300 operators worldwide will deploy LTE networks by 2016, according to Maravedis. They expect smartphones to account for half of all LTE subscribers, reaching 130 million by 2016, reports Fierce Wireless.
LteMaps shows all global LTE deployments commitments. Blue markers show actual deployments.
The world’s first LTE service was launched by Swedish cellular operator TeliaSonera, in December, 2009. TeliaSonera has three nation-wide LTE licenses; in Sweden, Norway and Finland. Tele2 and Telenor have launched joint commercial LTE networks in Stockholm, Gothenburg, Malmö and Karlskrona. Both operators are offering Huawei dual-mode modems which operate on both 4G and 3G networks. In 2011 many of Sweden’s cities will be covered by 4G. The goal is to cover 99% of the population with 4G by the end of 2012.
Companies such as Ericsson, Nokia Siemens and Korea’s Samsung are in a fierce battle with Chinese firms like ZTE and Huawei for LTE equipment orders.
South Korea’s top mobile carrier SK Telecom is preparing to start commercial LTE next year. Launched in 2006, WiBro (the South Korean brand for WiMAX) now covers much of South Korea’s population. SK Telecom and KT won nationwide WiBro licenses.
With SK moving to LTE, Korea Telecom has taken leadership in WiMAX, and is currently changing its equipment to operate over the 10MHz channels used by traditional WiMax gear. KT says it will be the first carrier in the world to offer nationwide WiMax service, covering 82 cities across Korea, or 85 percent of the total population, by March, 2011.
Samsung is working to support the WiMAX 2 standard, demonstrating a WiMAX 2 trial system at 330Mbps, at CEATEC in Japan.
WiMAX Maps by 4Gcounts predicts 13 million WiMAX subs by the end of 2010 with the WiMAX Forum forecasting over 1 Billion people across the world within WiMAX coverage by 2011.
Of the 9 million BWA/WiMAX million subscribers reported, 5 million are concentrated in the top 20 WiMAX operators. Clearwire (USA), Yota (Russia), Inukshuk (Canada),Axtel (Mexico), Telmex (International), and Korea Telecom (South Korea) are among those with the highest subscriber numbers. The WiMAX Forum hopes that Clear in the United States, UQ in Japan, KT in South Korea, VMAX in Taiwan and Packet One of Indonesia, among others, will hang in there and that India will come around.
Japan is expected to play a leading role in global LTE market. The four Japanese mobile phone operators (NTT DoCoMo, KDDI, Softbank Mobile and EMOBILE) are expected to collectively spend one trillion yen (US$10 billion) over the next five years on LTE, and they expect a combined 36 million LTE subscriber base by the end of 2015. NTT DoCoMo expects to have nearly 18 million LTE subscribers by 2014, says Basharat Ashai, a Market Analyst.
DoCoMo is the dominant provider for Japan’s 100+ million cell phone subscribers, with 55 million users, No. 2 is KDDI’s au, with 31 million users, while Softbank Corp. has 21 million and E-Mobile Ltd. has 1.74 million.
NEC is a major supplier of WiMAX base station equipment for UQ Communications, the only operator of mobile WiMAX services in Japan. UQ provides UQ WiMAX services to more than 90% of the population in 15 of Japan’s largest cities, including Tokyo, Osaka, and Nagoya.
Japan’s NEC has been helping Tatung InfoComm with its WiMAX operation in Taiwan, reports Digitimes, and will continue its support for WiMAX development, including additional investment in line with Taiwan government’s policies, according to NEC China president Masaki Kidowaki.
According to Wireless Intelligence, the number of LTE connections in Asia Pacific will exceed 120 million by 2015. Growth will be spearheaded by China, says Wireless Intelligence, with the country expected to account for nearly half (57.9 million) of the total number of LTE connections in Asia Pacific during this period.
source : dailywireless.org
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