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The report comes to close to the time when 3G and WiMAX spectrum auction is round the corner. The base price for WiMAX spectrum in India is Rs 1750 crore, half the base price of 3G spectrum. Further, the report indicates that India could be at the forefront of WiMAX innovation. As Indian companies including Tata Communications and Reliance Communications are still investing heavily in the technology. The region is also home to many maverick WiMAX operators that are pioneering wireless broadband use among non-incumbent operators.

The report estimates that the WiMAX subscriber base in the region - covering 17 Asia-Pac nations excluding China - could top 24 million by end-2014, with billings reaching nearly US $ 6.4 billion. The figure could double if the Chinese government changes it position on WiMAX.

Its is worth mentioning that China has not supported WiMAX, preferring instead to back the homegrown TD-SCDMA 3G standard, is particularly unnerving for the technology's prospects in the region. Ironically, China's leading infrastructure giants Huawei Technologies and ZTE are among the largest WiMAX vendors in the world.

"We believe that the region holds the best prospects for WiMAX services in terms of subscriber uptake and future innovation," says Frost & Sullivan industry analyst Shaker Amin, adding that much of Asia-Pac, compared to other regions in the world, still lack 3G spectrum and broadband connectivity.

Frost and Sullivan estimates that some 3.6 billion people in Asia-Pac, largely in the undeserved areas, have yet to adopt any kind of broadband services. This could give the technology a new lease on life as operators push ahead to provide affordable wireless broadband services via WiMAX. Amin says, "Some large Asian markets have made very little progress in licensing WiMAX including India and Thailand, while other markets such as Australia, Malaysia, the Philippines and Singapore have seen considerable growth in wireless broadband subscribers using HSPA data cards and dongles."

The report predicted that the key focus of WiMAX will be to provide basic data connectivity in undeserved markets at around the 1Mbps level, and as a precursor or complement to HSPA and LTE technologies where spectrum is scarce, the report suggested.

Despite the odds, Fost and Sullivan believes that it's now or never for WiMAX players. With HSPA gaining momentum and LTE on the horizon, governments and operators must act quickly to take advantage of the features that mobile WiMAX technology can offer today.

akhileshs@cybermedia.co.in