ORR Technology, LLC

How will WiMAX in the US reach 10m users by 2010?

The recent VON.x conference in San Jose hosted a WCA panel entitled, “Whither WiMAX”. Moderated by M:Metrics analyst Seamus McAteer, the panel consisted of:

* Rohini Chakravarthy, Principal, New Enterprise Associates
* Ron Resnick, President and Chair, WiMAX Forum
* Ben Vos, VP Core Technologies, Sprint Nextel
* Greg Welch, Market Development Director, WiMAX Program Office, Intel
* Paul Sergeant, Sr Manager WiMAX Marketing, Cisco Systems (formerly Navini Networks)
* Tom Gruba, Sr Director Marketing MOTOwi4 and WiMAX, Motorola

The highlight was an excellent question posed by moderator McAteer – “when will the US reach 10 million WiMAX subscribers?” Most panelists raised their hands for 2010. Putting this into perspective, McAteer noted that about 220 million Americans (ages 13+) have mobile phone service. Ten million WiMAX users, roughly 5% of the mobile phone population in a 2-year period, could prove challenging. The Apple iPhone will not reach 10 million subscribers at its 2-year anniversary. Why will WiMAX ramp at a faster rate than the iPhone?

Read the complete story at Mobile Broadband News