Mobile WiMAX Market Hits High Note to End 2008

Not sure I understand this story. In spite of the economic downturn, WiMax enjoyed record revenues for the 3rd quarter of 2008 and analysts expect another record for the 4th quarter. That said, they expect the industry to be hit hard by the economic downturn in 2009, with network buildouts put on hold or delayed. It's almost as if they can't believe the 2008 numbers and are waiting for the bottom to drop out.

Mobile WiMAX Market Hits High Note to End 2008

While most industries struggled this past year with growth under the weight of a sagging economy, worldwide mobile WiMAX infrastructure revenues nearly quadrupled in the third quarter of 2008 over the third quarter of 2007, according to a new study.

... 

‘Mobile WiMAX revenues were very strong in the third quarter of last year, and we anticipate revenue for the fourth quarter to set another record,’ said Scott Siegler, senior analyst of Mobile Infrastructure research at Dell’Oro Group.
 


‘With LTE still a couple of years away, WiMAX has, in fact, become the first next generation technology with commercial service.’
 


However, says Siegler, in 2009 WiMAX market to be hit rather hard by the economic downturn. Building out brand new networks from scratch requires tens, if not hundreds, of millions of dollars of capital.



Compounding the tightening in the credit markets, the increasing cost of capital and the decrease in demand for broadband data as consumer spending weakens, ‘we anticipate many network buildouts will be put on hold or delayed into 2010.’