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this year there will be 30 billion dollars in WiMAX investment. For a technology that didn't exist five years ago. WiMAX is a central location and a mechanism by which everyone can get together to better understand how do build the special tools that can help drive the industry.
PL: Do you view WiMAX as a competitor or a complement to other access projects like FTTH or advanced cable?
Shakouri: Of course we think that our value proposition is to be a complement to those technologies. It would be best to put fiber to every human being because fiber's capacity is much higher. The value of WiMAX is mobility and complementing these technologies. In very few places do we see a debate between fiber and WiMAX. The question is how fast you need to do deployment and what you need to build. If there's no time for fiber, you can use WiMAX. The additional value of WiMAX is that the consumer can leave the house. If you can give that customer broadband experiences and deliver some of the technology, that's very complementary. Also, with fiber and other technology, you're putting hundreds of video channels into the home. You're not going to go on your trusty wireless network and get hundreds of video channels, because it would be very expensive. So I think we see different uses for both technologies.
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In very few places do we see a debate between fiber and WiMAX. The question is how fast you need to do deployment and what you need to build. |
Multimedia and content is going to be an important element, and I think that doing broadband wireless technology is going to be an important tool. My feeling is that this major shift in the industry means WiMAX has the potential to become a real force. I think this is just a small step. The growth of WiMAX is amazing, but what lies ahead is much more powerful.
PL: Are Content and Device companies an active part of the forum?
Shakouri: The second biggest group in the forum is equipment players. In addition, companies like Sony and Disney are involved, and I think more content players will continue to get involved. I think this is a very important element in terms of having them be a strong partner of ours. For example, we have a large number of application players from Taiwan becoming a part of the forum. That's happening in Japan and Korea, too. I think that this is a growth opportunity for the forum. We've seen very positive traction on that level. Most of the content and payment comes much later in the cycle of technology, as you know. It's very nice to see these
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PL: How do you expect the view of WiMAX by Service Providers to change in the next 5 years?
Shakouri: I think the biggest thing you see right now is WiMAX moving into the mainstream of helping mobile operators. Today you see 2G or 3G. I believe they will look at adding more broadband capabilities. I believe WiMAX has an opportunity to penetrate and potentially take a good percentage of the future of mobile broadband infrastructure. Today cellular mobile infrastructure spending is in the billions of dollars. We hope that in the next 3-5 years, 20-30% of that investment will be in WiMAX. We think that it's very complementary, and there's an opportunity for WiMAX to become very mainstream.
The other thing I see happening is that telecommunications and the whole industry is undergoing a radical shift. I don't believe you'll have a mobile operator doing cellular activity only, or a telco doing just DSL or voice, or a satellite company just doing satellite.
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companies engaging with us sooner and helping to engage with us in developing solutions.
PL: Any other factors concerning the growth of WiMAX you'd like to share?
Shakouri: There are issues about WiMAX growth in the US, and you can hear about it with regards to Sprint. WiMAX forum has a certain frequency in the spectrum, (2.5ghz). That frequency has already been allocated. One of the biggest challenges in the US is the number of operators who have spectrum for broadband. People are looking a lot into 700mHZ and 3.65, and other new bands that are opening. With that, new operators could get engaged. Internationally there's a large number of operators that should be active in the US, where there's a great potential for WiMAX. We need to get spectrum.
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