@WiMAX Global Biz Dev Forum: WiMAX brings first-to-market advantage

HONOLULU – WiMAX operators have a first-to-market advantage today, regardless of which technology paths some may choose tomorrow, according to panelists speaking at the Global WiMAX Business Development Forum held in Honolulu yesterday and today.
Yesterday’s sessions featured a diverse range of WiMAX operators including Clearwire Corp., a Pakistani operator named Wi-tribe and a just-out-of-the gate operator in Australia called vividwireless. WiMAX technology is delivering on all four cylinders – price, capacity, speed and Quality of Service. And despite this being a WiMAX forum, operators were quick to acknowledge that LTE-based services likely will dominate in the future, but don’t see that as a death knell to their business operations. While some operators likely could move to LTE technology at some point in the future, if they have proper spectrum and it makes financial sense to do so, others will continue to use WiMAX technology to meet their customers’ needs. Indeed, one of the key takeaways from the day was that operators are going to make technology choices based on their own individual circumstances – spectrum position, price, target customers and of course, politics – but there was little talk of technological superiority of one fourth-generation technology vs. another.
In the opening keynote, Clearwire CTO Dr. John Saw talked about a perfect storm of video, Voice over IP, smartphones and social networks that will drive 4G adoption. “Skype is the largest carrier in the world,” he said. In five years, mobile Internet users will outnumber desktop users. Replicating the home broadband experience on the go cannot be done with second- and third-generation networks. Those networks are limited by spectrum, backhaul and the technology itself, Saw said. 4G networks can bring the bandwidth needed to enable the data-rich video applications that 4G networks require. In a one-on-one interview with RCR Wireless News, Saw noted that people will find new ways to use wireless networks, once they have access to the bandwidth. For example, Saw said he recently attended a birthday party where the DJ was streaming live music from the Internet on the Clear network rather than bringing a stack of CDs or using an MP3 player. Saw joked with the WiMAX audience, “Watch out because you have no idea what you’re getting into.”
Clearwire’s network withstood the recent floods in Nashville, Tenn., in part due to Clearwire’s mobile backhaul network, while traditional cellular carriers were “trying to figure out how to get water out of their T1 lines.” Clearwire also recently installed “green” cell sites that don’t require an HVAC system, which cuts its electricity use at the site by 90%, Saw said.
Clearwire customers are averaging 7 GB of data usage per month, Saw said, compared to 3G data card users, who average 1.4 GB per month and smartphone users who average 200 MB of use per month. Clearwire can compete on price, not because it must, but because it can afford to, Saw said.
In Pakistan, which is a competitive marketplace, WiMAX operator Wi-tribe must compete on price, said its CTO, Dr. Tanveer UI Haq. Wi-tribe launched services in July last year, and aspires to become one of the strongest broadband players in its markets in Pakistan, the Philippines and Jordan. The operator, backed by Qtel and ATCO, faces a lot of opportunities and a lot of challenges. Pakistan, with 176 million people, has a young population, low broadband penetration, low fixed-line telephony penetration, but large cellular penetration. The operator is focusing on building out its mobile broadband experience as a quality data-only service, but expects to add VoIP later. In contrast to Clearwire, Haq said, “In Pakistan, we don’t sell it cheap because we can afford to. We sell it cheap because we have to,” noting $10 a month in average revenue per user on his network.
Operators are building “golden pipes” that connect smart devices to the cloud, said Tang Xinhong, president of the Huawei WiMAX and CDMA product line. Huawei sponsored the event. WiMAX operators are diverse, Xinhong noted. Some operators are greenfield companies with no legacy systems to weigh them down. Others have 2G voice services, while still others have 3G networks and are using their WiMAX spectrum to offload data from the 3G network.
Vividwireless is a WiMAX operator that launched all of seven weeks ago in Australia. The upstart operator has significant clout in that it is backed by Australia’s largest media company, Seven Network Ltd. While the operator is not yet releasing subscriber numbers, it has been surprised that 50% of its users are buying the service to replace their existing broadband connection. Vividwireless is trying to differentiate on cost, speed, the simplicity of its no-contract, plug-and-play service, as well as portability. One-third of its customers are choosing prepaid and the operator counts ARPU north of $50 per month, said CEO Martin Mercer. Mercer said the operator was extremely pleased with its WiMAX technology, but pointed out that vivid is a service company and so if it feels the need to switch to TD-LTE technology at some point, it will be able to do so with just a software upgrade to its existing equipment.