PRESS RELEASE
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400,000 BWA/WiMAX Subscribers Added in Q1 2009,
Reaching 3.5 Million Worldwide
Maravedis releases latest market statistics on WiMAX and 4G
MONTREAL, Canada, July 13th, 2009 – Approximately 400,000 BWA/WiMAX subscribers and 50 million new active 3G subscribers were added in Q1 2009, according to the latest quarterly report published by Maravedis as part of its leading 4GCounts subscription service (www.4Gcounts.com)
The average BWA/WiMAX subscriber growth rate was 13% over Q4 2008, and there was a 75% yearover- year growth rate since Q1 2008. "Global service revenue growth is tapering off as WiMAX operators experience ARPU stagnation and subscriber growth slow down," noted Maravedis CEO and Founder, Adlane Fellah.
"2008 was a difficult year for WiMAX and during Q1 2009, the slowdown continued as operators watched their wallets closely in order to survive the downturn," noted Cintia Garza, co-author of the report.
"There is some room for optimism: despite the economic slowing, BWA/WiMAX has proven that it is a viable alternative for access in underserved markets and as a broadband overlay. WiMAX suppliers say that they offer a low cost way to deliver network service most needed now: that waiting for LTE is lost opportunity and overkill of network complexity and cost. An emerging message from operators is the choice of network technology is less important so long as it serves their purpose," Robert Syputa commented.
The quarterly report also explores the motivations for 3G operators to invest in LTE and what challenges they will face when adopting this technology. "Our research reveals that 37% of operators consider LTE as their best option available today to address the need for higher bandwidth services and capacity, while 15% believe LTE will give them added flexibility to use different spectrum bands," said report co-author Basharat Ashai.
THIS QUARTER’S SUMMARY FINDINGS
- The top 30 mobile operators committed to LTE accounted in Q1 2009 for 1.1 billion mobile
subscribers, of which 447 million correspond to China Mobile. Many of these subscribers are
served with GSM, 3G or HSPA technologies and will be migrated to LTE in the future.
- 28% of operators pointed to technological delays as the main challenge for adopting LTE; 24%
revealed that interoperability between the LTE vendors is a concern; 10% pointed to the lack of
spectrum/delayed auctions as a challenge.
- The split by subscriber type among 4GCounts operators was 69% residential and 31% business.
- Q1 2009 recorded WiMAX ARPU was US$42.43 and US$116.82 for residential and business
segments respectively, compared to US$42.33 and US$122.64 for the same segments in Q4
2008.
- Out of all CPEs deployed as of Q1 2009, 4GCounts showed 26% were 802.16-2004, 20% were
802.16e-2005, and 54% were vendor proprietary.
- Clearwire USA continues to be the top BWA/WIMAX operator in terms of the number of subscribers. The operator had 500,000 subscribers at the end of Q1 2009, an increase of 5% compared with 475,000 reported in Q4 2008.
About the Service:
4GCounts is a unique web-based service that tracks 4G Operator deployments and provides detailed
information on the worldwide 4G ecosystem. 4GCounts currently profiles over 200 Operators across 92
countries. For more details, visit www.4Gcounts.com
About Maravedis
MARAVEDIS is a leading analyst firm focusing on disruptive technologies including smart networks using
WiMAX, IEEE, and 3GPP/LTE. Maravedis works with system and service providers, vendors, regulators,
and institutional investors. Learn more at www.maravedis-bwa.com.
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Press Contact:
Emma Hancox, Marketing Director, Maravedis Inc.
Tel: +1 514 992-3662
emma@maravedis-bwa.com