OREANDA-NEWS. December 23, 2008. WiMAX market in Central Asian region is in early development stage. Currently, eight WiMAX operators work in the region, including seven fixed WiMAX operators and one mobile WiMAX operator.

Research of J'son & Partners Central Asia "WiMAX market in Central Asia" said these facts.

The report said that WiMAX subscribers' number was 1,500 at the end of 2007. It added that Kazakhstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan have WiMAX networks. In early 2008, Kyrgyzstan launched eighth WiMAX operator in the region.

J'son & Partners Central Asia said that the number of subscribers will increase threefold to 4,500 users in the region. WiMAX penetration in Central Asia will not exceed 0.001%, while broadband penetration will reach 12% in the end of 2008.

Kazakhstan leads on number of WiMAX subscribers in Central Asia, while Uzbekistan in the second position.

J'son & Partners Central Asia said that the number of WiMAX subscribers in 2008 will be over 1,600, in Uzbekistan – over 1,300, Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan will have 700 and 600 subscribers respectively.

The share of WiMAX subscribers among broadband users will not exceed 1.5% in all Central Asian countries. This is connected with recent development of WiMAX networks in the region and slow growth of WiMAX subscribers compared to broadband subscribers.

The research said ARPU is decreasing moderately in WiMAX networks compared to broadband networks. In 2007, ARPU WiMAX networks were four times higher, compared to broadband subscribers.

J'son & Partners Central Asia said that WiMAX ARPU will be around USD 100, while broadband ARPU will not exceed USD 35. The company said that main subscribers to WiMAX are corporate clients and broadband subscribers are home users.