The number of 3.5G mobile broadband subscribers worldwide will boom more than ten-fold from 2.5 million in 2006 to more than 300 million in 2011, but market growth in 2006-07 will be restrained by a lack of compelling devices, according to Future Mobile Broadband: HSPA, EV-DO, WiMAX & LTE, a new Strategic Report from Informa Telecoms & Media.

“A lack of compelling devices and content led to delayed launches and slow take-up of WCDMA and EV-DO services, and early HSDPA and EV-DO Revision A services are expected to suffer from the very same problems,” says Malik Saadi, principal analyst at Informa Telecoms & Media and co-author of the Future Mobile Broadband Strategic Report.

Saadi notes that most HSDPA services are launching with only PC cards and notebooks, although a number of early handsets are also arriving. “However it is striking that as of June no major vendor has unveiled plans for EV-DO Rev. A handsets, although data cards are on the way.”

A lack of a wide range of compelling handsets will slow mass-market takeup of 3.5G mobile broadband services in 2006-07,but handsets will start to mature in 2008, leading to a sharp increase in 3.5G handset sales and subscribers in 2008-09. By 2011 85% of 3.5G devices sold will be handsets, and the remaining 15% will be notebooks and PC cards.

3.5G mobile broadband subscribers are defined as subscribersusing services based on HSDPA, HSUPA, EV-DO Revision A or EV-DO Revision B.

Mobile WiMAX will compete with HSPA and EV-DO Rev A/B in the mobile broadband market, but will suffer even more than those technologies from the slow arrival of compelling notebooks and handsets. “Mobile WiMAX will play a relatively minor role in the mobile broadband market through 2011, largely because Mobile WiMAX notebooks and tablets will not arrive in volume until 2008-09, and compelling Mobile WiMAX handsets won’t arrive until 2010,” says Mike Roberts, principal analyst at Informa Telecoms & Media and co-author of the Future Mobile Broadband report. “By comparison HSDPA notebooks and handsets are already shipping, which means that the HSDPA device market is one to two years ahead of the Mobile WiMAX device market,” Roberts says.

However that should not obscure the fact that WiMAX will gain significant momentum in the fixed, nomadic and portable broadband segments in 2006-11, although many WiMAX subscribers will be using fixed indoor modems rather than mobile devices, Roberts adds.

South Korea broke into a wireless broadband frenzy Friday with the country’s top two operators launching a volley of services. Leading mobile operator SK Telecom and fixed line carrier KT both introduced wireless internet services over WiBro – Korea’s homebrew WiMAX technology – while mobile unit KTF fired up its HSDPA network.

As of today both KT and SKT will be offering WiBro connectivity in a number of ‘hot zones’ in Seoul. As a result of the limited coverage, KT is offering discounted tariffs until year-end. Both operators expect coverage in all of Seoul by year-end.

WiBro is a homegrown Korean technology that shares compatibility with mobile WiMAX 802.16e and has a theoretical maximum speed of 20Mbps when stationary. The technology can potentially deliver speeds of 1-3Mbps while on the move at up to 120km per hour.

KT is launching with a PC data card and tariffs starting at Won6,000 for 500MB of data per month, ranging up to Won16,000 for unlimited usage. All subscriptions carry a one off Won30,000 connection fee. WiBro enabled PDAs and notebooks are expected to be introduced during the second half.

SKT is launching with a PCMCIA data card and a WiBro Unlimited Usage Plan for Won30,000 per month.

At the same time, KT’s mobile unit, KTF, also launched its commercial HSDPA service in 50 cities, supported by 2 DBDM (Dual Band Dual Mode: 2100MHz WCDMA/HSDPA, 1800MHz cdma2000 1x EV-DO) handsets.

KTF’s HSDPA service provides coverage to 80 per cent of the population in Korea, and is expected to reach 91 per cent of the population by year-end.

The two handsets, the Samsung SPH-W2100 and LG-KH1000, are capable of downloading wireless data at a maximum speed of 1.8 Mbps in HSDPA mode and 2.4 Mbps in EV-DO mode. The SPH-W2100 also supports T-DMB mobile TV services.

KTF said it plans to release up to three additional HSDPA handset models by year-end.

SKT beat KTF to the punch in terms of HSDPA though, commercially launching its network last month in 25 major cities, including Seoul, Incheon, Busan, Daegu, Daejeon and Jeju. The company plans to quickly extend its network to cover to a total of 84 cities, providing full service across the country. SKT hopes to sign up a total of 300,000 subscribers by the end of 2006.

SKT kicked off its service with the Samsung W200 and expects LG’s SH-100 to be in stores by June and four to five other models to be added by year-end.

Mike Roberts, principal analyst at telecoms.com’s parent, Informa Telecoms and Media believes the plans will face tough challenges. “The launch of WiBro by SKT and KT will be the first mass-market rollouts of pre-Mobile WiMAX service, so are an important test of the potential for Mobile WiMAX services,” said Roberts. “However WiBro is also something of a special case because it is launching into an intensely competitive market that will feature HSDPA services from SKT, EV-DO Rev. A services from LG from 2007, and EV-DO services from several operators.”

The country’s smallest operator, LG Telecom is in the process of deploying a cdma2000 1x EV-DO Rev. A network, which is expected to go live next year. LG previously abandoned plans to deploy a faster EV-DV network when vendor interest in the technology began to wane around 18 months ago.

Huawei Technologies announced that it has signed a network contract to construct a CDMA2000 network for Movilnet, one of the largest wireless telecom operators in Venezuela.

Under the terms of the contract, Huawei will provide a wide range of CDMA20001X/1xEV-DO equipment including Radio Access Network and Core Network Softswitch. The contract, which marks a significant milestone in the strategic cooperation between Huawei and Movilnet, will make Huawei a leading provider of CDMA equipment in the Venezuela market.

Widely recognized by CDMA operators worldwide, Huawei’s industry-leading BTS features open framework, broadband platform and professional radio-frequency technologies. As the first wireless communications solution provider to integrate Softswitch technology into a core CDMA network, Huawei bases its CDMA Softswitch solution on the distributed technology of traffic control and bearer, which offers such advantages as huge capacity and high integration. IP transmission solution enables operators to reduce transmission costs significantly.

Mr. JosГ© MarГ­a de Viana, CEO of Movilnet, commented, “We consider Huawei as our strategic and reliable partner that can help expand our CDMA2000 network and meet our requirements. Movilnet plans to offer the best 3G multimedia and communication services to our customers in 2006. We firmly believe that our network subscriber number will reach 8 million by the year-end.”

“We look forward to a closer long-term partnership with Movilnet,” said Mr. Jiang Yafei, President of Huawei Latin America. “Huawei’s leading technologies and professional experience will allow our customers to enjoy high-quality network coverage and more diversified services.”
To date, Huawei has won 19 CDMA2000 1xEV-DO commercial contracts and deployed CDMA networks serving over 40 million subscribers globally. In November 2005, Frost & Sullivan ranked Huawei “Top Three” in global CDMA market.