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1 Million Wireless Broadband Users Up For Grabs |
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Written by Adam Gosling
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Monday, 20 November 2006 |
Wireless broadband is set to take off in Australia as
all mobile phone operators upgrade their networks with the latest 3G data
technology as a way to offset the rapidly declining voice revenues that have
supported them for years.
But just how many potential users there are for wireless
broadband remains with four phone networks, a number of companies holding WiMax
spectrum licenses and the Commander Communications-owned Personal Broadband Australia
iBurst network all vying for customers, will their be enough demand to go
around?
Perhaps not, the latest IDC's research into the growing wireless
data market segregates the market into two sets of providers, Wireless Broadband
(WBB) and Mobile Broadband (MBB) and estimates that by 2010 there will be a total
of 1 million subscribers taking a broadband data service from one or the other.
Which one will predominate is still anyone's guess says IDC.
"Picking a winner between wireless broadband and mobile
broadband services will be a neck-and-neck call," says Jerson Yau, IDC
Australia Research Analyst for Wireless and Mobility.
"Both WiMAX and cellular technologies are poised to
experience a renaissance in the very near future - provided conditions are
favourable - and the onus will initially be placed on service providers to help
both business users and consumers choose the most appropriate technology for
their needs," he says.
In a report titled "Australia Wireless and Mobile Broadband 2006-2010 Forecast and Analysis: Two
Princes" IDC reveals that by 2005, the rapidly emerging WBB market had
over 81 thousand subscribers, outpacing the MBB market which garnered almost 62
thousand subscribers. Service revenues for WBB and MBB combined, surpassed
A$100 million.
But then this year, the tables have turned somewhat with new MBB services posing
a serious threat to WBB services as high throughput and low latency 3.5G
upgrades were rapidly deployed across existing 3G networks.
IDC points out that the advantage mobile phone operators have
of simply upgrading existing networks will and says they will continue to
garner substantial consumer mindshare due to their positioning and value added
services.
"Despite the rapid deployments and punctuated developments of both WBB and MBB
services, there continues to be a great deal of work in both these camps for
the industry bodies and stakeholders to further promote the roadmaps and
benefits of implementing their respective technologies," explains the
researcher.
And both camps need to "incentivise" users to attract their
interest while also targeting the existing fixed line subscriber numbers.
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