WiMAX, Analysis, Marketing, Global: Victor Schnee, the telecoms forecaster who established Probe Research, and ex-CEO of Nynex Mobile Alfred Boschulte, believe that companies such as Google and Yahoo can bypass telecom and cable networks by skilful marketing of WiMAX.

Their awareness of such implications is conveyed by the title of their new report: The WiMAX Explosion! Both authors of The WiMAX Explosion! have confidence in the potential of WiMAX provided it is marketed in such a way that its capabilities - and they are seen by the authors as far-reaching - are marketed in the most appropriate and effective manner. In fact, they go so far as to suggest that choice in broadband application could be widened to the extent of pushing aside the control currently enjoyed by cable and telecoms companies.

Running to 267 pages, The WiMAX Explosion!, analyses the often highly competitive conditions which currently apply in the broadband sector, and then moves on to the conclusion that Google and Yahoo, to mention two players, are on the cusp of providing an alternative to telcos and cable.

Boschulte Schnee Group (BSG), the organisation bringing together the two authors, consider themselves vindicated by one development. Just after their report was published, the WiMAX service provider Clearwire and Sprint-Nextel announced their aim of partnering to construct a national WiMAX broadband network.

In fact, BSG had already identified the role Clearwire can play in WiMAX, noting that around a year ago it started its upgrade from the previous OFDM technology to WiMAX, while at the same time coming to arrangements with Intel, Motorola, and Bell Canada Enterprises (for VoIP) among others.

Alfred Boschulte looks to the future: “It is a technological platform that supports converged services…WiMAX is post-convergence because it is possible to offer a service that doesn’t require two networks – wireline and wireless. It is a platform that can serve you in your home, deal with your desire for nomadic behaviour, onto the patio, handle your mobile phone and iPhone and other things...If you look at what people are paying right now for broadband Internet access and for voice and for mobility, you quickly get to ranges of US$90 a month to US$120 to US$130 a month…You can run a profitable WiMAX business at far, far less. This business can make a lot of sense at ARPUs that are within the US$60 to US$70 range.”

Yet another area where the authors of The WiMAX Explosion! are bullish is in the wireless devices field. WiMAX can release the restrictions wireless network operators apply to wireless devices: consumer choice and technological innovation will be free to blossom.

And then there is the crucial element of marketing: “What we need to see from players is that WiMAX…needs to be all it can be…Service providers need to offer this bundled package, with nationwide advertising and nationwide retail sales. It needs to be cost-effective rather very high cost,” added Boschulte.