Mobilink, Pakistan’s largest mobile operator, will be investing an additional half a billion dollars in developing its infrastructure. A large part of this will go towards the rollout of Mobilink’s WiMax service.
The giant currently boasts a subscriber base of over 29 million. With a population of 165 million against a broadband user base of less than 100,000, it is the perfect opportunity for such a large operator to get into the market.
Motorola has announced an agreement with long-standing customer Mobilink (an Orascom Telecom Company) to deploy a WiMAX 802.16e-2005 access network for the operator in Pakistan.
This could do wonders for the mobile broadband-hungry segment of the Pakistani population that has recently emerged. More details available here.
According to this Information Week article and a report by Juniper Research, the Mobile Wimax standard or 802.16e, is set to hit 80 million subscribers within the next 5-6 years. The majority of these users is likely to come from the US and East Asia. However, the potential of WiMax to replace existing last mile solutions in developing countries could mean that they constitute a significant portion of this number.
Plans by chip makers, such as Intel, to include WiMax support in laptops and other devices would play a crucial role in the success of WiMax in the coming years.
From Fortune magazine comes an article titled The curse of WiMAX about all the problems that WiMAX has been facing recently.
Though it may not have taken off as expected, a lot of investment has already been made into the technology and I doubt it will abruptly disappear. However, some of the points made are quite valid and can be addressed through a concerted effort by the major players involved.
Welcome to the WiMAX.pk website. Here you’ll find information on various developments related to the rollout of WiMAX technology in Pakistan and also be participate in discussions on the subject.
