Runet wireless, still not WiMAX

The Russian market for broadband wireless access (BWA) continues to grow rapidly. In the first half of this year, revenues of Internet providers from services based on wireless networks grew by 61% compared to the same period in 2005. The high dynamics of the BWA market are due to the overall high demand for broadband Internet access, the relative underdevelopment of the wired access infrastructure, as well as the entry of new operators into the market, iKS Consulting reports.

Despite active development, the absolute volume of the market remains fairly modest - $ 33 million in the first half of 2006. The main sources of income remain wired broadband access (66%) and dial-up access (29%). The share of wireless access is less than 8% in the broadband access segment and 5% in the Internet market as a whole.

The number of users directly connected to wireless broadband networks increased by 8 thousand in the first half of the year and, according to iKS-Consulting , it reached 35 thousand. At the same time, the number of subscribers connected to the Internet using a combination of technologies — wireless as a solution — Last mile and wired (usually Ethernet) on the “last meters”. About 100 thousand households use this combined solution in Russian home networks.
')
6 of the 10 largest players in the BWA market are located in Moscow, while these companies operate not only in the capital, but also in the Moscow region, and some in other cities. Top-10 also includes 2 St. Petersburg operators - Quantum (share in revenues from broadband access in the Russian Federation - 5%) and Peterstar (3%), a Moscow operator “Flex” ($ 6), and the inter-regional provider Enforta "(6%). Among the market leaders are companies for which wireless technologies are the main means of organizing access, such as TASK (7%), ArtCommunications (5%), Flex (6%), etc., as well as wired leaders. of the market - Golden Telecom (4%), Comstar (3%), Peterstar (3%). Most of the leaders of the BWA segment operate on the market for 5-10 years. In the first half of the top 10, only one new player was able to enter - Enforta became one of the largest players thanks to acquisitions of regional operators and active connection of new subscribers.

More than 220 Russian wireless networks are built using RadioEthernet (IEEE 802.11) technologies. The same technologies are used by all operators in the Top-10. At the same time, most major players are building or intend to build WiMAX networks. In mid-2006, pre-WiMAX / WiMAX technology accounts for only about 5% of the broadband wireless access market. However, the proportion of WiMAX is growing rapidly - its share will reach 20% in 2007, and this technology will become dominant by 2009-2010 . This will contribute to the slowdown of the dynamics of the wired segment and the continuation of the geographical expansion of the operators of pre-WiMAX / WiMAX.

Analysts of iKS-Consulting expect that in 2006 the fixed-line market will continue to grow at a level exceeding 60% and reach $ 80 million by the end of the year. The share of BWAs in the Internet market will grow by almost 1% and come close to 6%. In 2007-2008 a further increase in the proportion of broadband wireless access is expected.