MONTREAL, CANADA—The global BWA/ WiMAX subscriber base increased by 260,246 in the first quarter of 2008, reaching a total of 1,988,246 subscribers, according to the fourth issue of the WiMAXCounts Quarterly Report from Maravedis.

“Even with an increase of more than 19% in WiMAX subscribers in the first quarter of 2008, operators are still waiting for the tipping point that will lead to acceleration of WiMAX adoption and deployments,” said Adlane Fellah, CEO and founder of Maravedis.

“Of the 264 operators tracked in WiMAXCounts, approximately 50% are providing highspeed Internet (HIS) services only. The remaining percentage corresponds to operators offering VoIP, Video, and VPN, in addition to HIS. According to key findings:

• 65% of operators are commercial, 14% are trialing, 9% are planning their launch, 10% have idle spectrum and 2% have returned/ lost spectrum.
• Clearwire USA remains the top operator in subscriber numbers, with an estimated 443,000 US subscribers at the end of Q1, an increase of 12.5% compared to the 394,000 subscribers reported in Q4 2007.
• The split by subscriber type among WiMAXCounts operators was 65% residential and 35% business.
• The 3.3-3.8 GHz band is the most widely deployed, with 63% of WiMAXCounts operators deploying WiMAX networks in this band in Q1, compared to 70% during Q4 2007.
• Q1 BWA/WiMAX service revenue among WiMAXCounts operators totaled US$ 366 million, compared to $US 303.65 million during the previous quarter, an increase of 20%.
• Q1 2008 recorded ARPU was US$ 48 and US$ 146 for residential and business subscribers.
• Motorola remains the leader in equipment deployed for both BWA/WiMAX CPEs.