Alcatel-Lucent, Motorola "leaders" in WiMAX

During the three months ended 30 June 2008, vendors Alcatel-Lucent and Motorola accounted for over two thirds of worldwide mobile WiMAX equipment revenue.

This is according to Infonetics Research, which describes the two suppliers as “runaway leaders” in the 802.16e equipment market.

And their lead is increasing. During the first quarter of this year, Alcatel-Lucent and Motorola captured around half the worldwide market for mobile WiMAX kit.

The research house also reports that Alvarion continues as the clear leader in fixed WiMAX, garnering roughly a quarter of the worldwide market during the second quarter.

“The big WiMAX story of the quarter is the huge ramp-up in mobile WiMAX equipment revenues by Alcatel-Lucent, which more than doubled its revenue in 2Q08; Motorola posted a hefty increase as well,” says Richard Webb, wireless analyst for Infonetics Research. “Alcatel-Lucent’s gain was due mainly to a dramatic increase in access service network (ASN) gateway shipments, having shipped more than six times its nearest rival, Motorola. These shipments make Alcatel-Lucent the first major integrated vendor to reap the rewards of an ‘open WiMAX’ policy, a policy that enables vendors to sell ASN gateways into networks where they are not necessarily the base station vendor.”

According to Infonetics, worldwide fixed and mobile WiMAX equipment revenue topped $402m the second quarter, up 3 per cent from the previous quarter.

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