WiMAX growing in India, Russia, Brazil, says Infonetics Research

India is the largest single-country WiMAX opportunity in the world, with most of the major operators actively pursuing WiMAX, such as BSNL, Tata Teleservices, and Bharti Airtel, according to Infonetics Research. Deployments are well underway with acceleration in adoption experienced in many telecoms circles. Telsima - now Harris-Stratex - led the WiMAX equipment market in 2008, followed by Alcatel-Lucent and WiMAX specialist Aperto.

After a slowdown during the recession in 2009, WiMAX adoption in the US will be healthy, led by Clearwire and a growing number of small-town and rural deployments by other operators, many benefiting from rural broadband stimulus funding

Russia is the 'perfect storm' for WiMAX: challenging geography, dispersed population, pent up demand for broadband and voice services, and a population able to pay for services, the research firm said. There are currently more than 10 WiMAX networks in operation or deployment in Russia.

Brazil is potentially one of the world's most dynamic WiMAX markets, with a very mobile-oriented populace. WiMAX has an opportunity to become the primary broadband network in Brazil, where the number of WiMAX subscribers is forecast to skyrocket from 184,000 in 2008 to almost eight million in 2013, Infonetics said.

Most countries in Central and Eastern Europe have WiMAX deployments underway and more than 20 operators offer VoIP over WiMAX service, a major driver of adoption.

There are over 80 networks now active in over 35 Africa countries, with demand for broadband and voice services driving deployment, despite challenges in terms of funding and low-ARPU business models.

The Middle East region has strong potential for WiMAX due to its relatively stable and affluent economies and often inferior telecommunications infrastructure.

Though the current market is very modest, if China's 3G technology TD-SCDMA fails to ignite the market, a softening of the regulatory attitude to WiMAX could follow, leading to much more extensive WiMAX market growth, Infonetics said.