Motorola leads mobile WiMAX supplier pack

Worldwide sales of WiMAX kit jumped 59 per cent quarter on quarter during the first three months of 2008, to reach $363m, according to research released this week.

Star mobile WiMAX sales performer during that period was Motorola, which became the first supplier to sell more than $50m of 802.16e equipment during a single quarter, according to analysts at Infonetics Research.

Alvarion continues to lead in worldwide fixed WiMAX equipment revenue share, but is being given a run for its money by Telsima, which increased its revenue during the first quarter.

The analysts says that overall sales of mobile WiMAX (802.16e) equipment jumped 141 per cent during the first quarter to overtake revenue from fixed WiMAX (802.16d) equipment for the first time.

“A significant number of new mobile WiMAX networks began rollout in the first quarter, and existing networks continued to scale up, driving sales in 1Q 2008,” said Richard Webb, wireless analyst for Infonetics. “We expect healthy growth for the evolving mobile WiMAX market, which is seeing strong adoption not only from tier 2 and 3 carriers, but from tier 1 nationwide operators as well, like Sprint/Clearwire in the US, SK Telecom and KT in South Korea, Wateen in Pakistan, BSNL in India, and Vodafone and Orange in new territories.”

Infonetics also reveals that the nascent mobile WiMAX phone and ultra mobile PC segments are showing signs of early traction, together increasing sales by 171 per cent sequentially.

Infonetics says the number of fixed and mobile WiMAX subscribers topped 2 million worldwide in 2007, a figure which is expected to triple by the end of 2008.