The Wimax sector generated revenue of $522 million in Q4 2008, even amid a tumultuous year for the technology, research firm Maravedis said.
Operators worldwide added a combined 1.45 million Wimax subscribers in 2008. As of December, there were around 3.16 million Wimax subscribers, up 87% year on year. Over one million of these subscribers are from the US.
Today, nearly 450 operators are deploying or trialing Wimax, the researchers said. Over 138,000 base stations were deployed in 2008, a 14% quarter-on-quarter growth.
Wimax operators took in an ARPU of $43.70 from the residential segment and $122 from the business segment.
Yet 2008 was a difficult year for many Wimax vendors, with the number of certified products based on the IEEE's latest Wimax standard topping 23. At the same time, many vendors abandoned, sold or restructured their Wimax divisions.
The financial crisis has also impacted the deployment plans of a number of operators, Maravedis said, which has increased risk perception towards the technology and the sales cycle.
This has helped redouble interest in LTE, with 120 operators now committed to the technology. And 42% of the top 22 Wimax operators are either planning to deploy or considering LTE, Maravedis added.
The W-CDMA subscriber base increased by more than 90 million over the year.