Wi-Max subs shoot up

Subscriptions to Wi-Max networks grew by 75 per cent last year, rising to 6.8 million subscribers globally, Infonetics Research has said.

The fourth quarter of 2009 was the third consecutive quarter of Wi-Max equipment and device revenue growth, up three per cent from the third quarter of 2009.

Richard Webb, directing analyst for Wi-Max at communications market research and consulting firm Infonetics Research, said: "The Wi-Max market is coming out of the recession period strongly".

The increase in Wi-Max subscriptions could potentially bolster interest in mobileIP telephony solutions, such as applications that emulate VoIP phones.

The functionality of such applications is made available to smartphone users via the wholly mobile internet access Wi-Max offers.

Infonetics Research expects the Wi-Max market to continue growing steadily in 2010 and predicted that high-speed, next-generation Wi-Max will be commercially available by 2011 or 2012.

The number of Wi-Max deployments worldwide in 2009 far outstripped deployments of LTE and HSPA, TeleGeography said recently.

While few Wi-Max networks offer widespread coverage, demand for them is set to increase as they can offer wireless broadband access in rural areas, making mobile VoIP solutions more reliable.