TowerStream, by its own account the largest fixed wireless access provider in the US, and broadband telephony specialist Vonage have teamed up to offer business users the latter’s low cost voice over IP (VoIP) service over the former’s pre-WiMAX networks.

According to TowerStream the tie-up will offer businesses a true alternative to the existing phone companies' services for both voice and broadband in one package. Available in New York City , Los Angeles , Chicago , San Francisco , Boston , and the greater Providence and Newport , RI , areas, the main attractions of VoIP over WiMAX are predictable flat rate billing and low calling international rates.

The joint venture announcement comes at a time of intensifying industry debate about what WiMAX could actually mean in the marketplace a little way down the road. At one extreme is the suggestion that that in its fixed and mobile forms WiMAX could, respectively, rival DSL and 3G. At the other extreme the insinuation is that current concentration on the technology is by way of much ado about nothing much at all.

In the middle
Two new analyses take the middle ground.

The current issue of ‘The Messaging Technology Report’ from The Radicati Group eschews any attempt at sizing the future market in dollar terms, and instead describes the advantages and disadvantages of WiMAX. The former include its ability to be deployed where cable and DSL could not practically or economically go, low cost and high speed of deployment, long range, high data rate, and international standardisation. On the downside are the limits that the particular terrain might impose on range and data rate, the limits imposed on mobile use by current high power requirements, and environmental and health concerns. On balance The Radicati Group thinks WiMAX has ‘great potential’.

Infonetics Research has also put WiMAX under the microscope. In its ‘WiMAX and Outdoor Mesh Equipment’ market outlook, Infonetics states that the technology is initially being deployed as a wireless backhaul solution, but will be deployed as a mobility application starting in 2007/2008 once the 802.16e standard is ratified and WiMAX-capable client devices enter the market.

"WiMAX promises many strategic opportunities, not just as a backhaul solution for Wi-Fi delivering additional bandwidth to hotspots, but potentially for 3G networks too", reasons Richard Webb, author of the report. "WiMAX may become a viable DSL/cable broadband replacement technology for consumers, and may even offer nomadic or portable wireless Internet access for consumers and enterprise users. Operators could also use it to carry VoIP services". (see above).

Infonetics speculates that WiMAX could form part of a wider wireless broadband strategy, comprising both licensed and unlicensed technologies, including GSM or CDMA, UMTS, proprietary broadband fixed wireless (LMDS, MMDS), Wi-Fi, and wireless mesh networks.

The company has also estimated the size of the market, stating that it’s "off to a good start". Infonetics calculates that WiMAX equipment revenue has already reached US$16.4mn and projects this to grow to US$124.5mn in 2005. Given that these figures are for worldwide sales, this is hardly ‘hold the front page’ stuff. Down the road, estimates Infonetics, combined WiMAX and out door mesh  equipment revenues could reach US$1.17bn in 2009. Which is more interesting, but still very small beer compared with estimates of 2.5G/3G infrastructure and broadband wireline spending.
John Williamson