Southeast Asia is next in line for widespread implementation of WiMAX (News - Alert) to help raise the region’s low broadband levels, and Greenpacket – as a leading developer of next-generation mobile broadband and networking solutions that has the third-largest WiMax devices market share across the globe – is pushing for this movement by the WiMAX Forum (News - Alert) at its Southeast Asia Regional Focus opening conference being held this week in Malaysia.

As a WiMAX supplier to 50 percent of current commercial deployments in the Southeast Asia region, Greenpacket is in full support of this expansion of high-quality wireless technologies, which will be addressed at the conference, entitled “4G WiMAX in Emerging Markets – Innovation and Evolution in Delivering Broadband for All.”

 “There is tremendous potential for WiMAX growth in Southeast Asia because the technology presents compelling propositions for operators to meet this region’s high-speed broadband needs and at the same time, cater to the varied market segments with fixed to nomadic and quad play offerings including mobile wireless VoIP,” said Kelvin Lee, senior general manager of Greenpacket Berhad, also adding that the company has a good perspective on the needs of operators at different levels and market segment due to its WiMax expertise and expansive portfolio of high-performance products and platforms.  

Since the cost of WiMAX devices has dropped by 30 percent over the past two years, according to Lee, WiMAX technology is a favorable, cost-effective opportunity for large global economies with a booming existing ecosystem, compared to other wireless technologies.

“We see the demand for data exploding— and 4G is all about data. Because of this, the future of WiMAX devices is limitless,” said Lee. “Netbooks and laptops now have WiMAX embedded chips and can further be extended to consumer electronics, digital cameras, home entertainment systems, utility meters, appliances, and so on. Users can then connect, entertain, stay informed, and be productive wherever they go. These devices need the kind of speed that only WiMAX can offer now.”

The SIRIM QAS International WiMax Forum Designated Certification Lab – the first lab in South Asia and the seventh in the world – will be launched at the conference, with the help of Greenpacket, which has nine global operations to meet the needs of both green and brown field operators and to support its customer base of more than 35 operators in 29 countries.

“We believe that this development greatly underlines increased demand for WiMAX and the technology’s healthy device ecosystem. We hope to see a further boost to the number of WiMAX products coming out in the market in the near future. We are also proud to have a certification lab here where Greenpacket is headquartered, marking the recognition of Malaysia as the region’s 4G WiMAX hub,” said Lee.

Greenpacket offers a large selection of 4G WiMAX products and solutions with a group of efficient and seamless indoor, outdoor and USB dongle WiMaAX modems, all of which and more will be displayed at the conference through Wednesday, Nov. 24.

Tammy Wolf is a TMCnet copy editor. Previously she was assistant to the editor at The Darien Times, a weekly newspaper in Darien, Conn., where she edited submissions, did page layout and design and helped manage the newspaper's website. To read more of her articles, please visit her columnist page.

Edited by Tammy Wolf