WiMAX to boost e-commerce and internet penetration in Middle East

The KLSE listed company, which is growing its presence in the Middle East and Africa (MEA) region via Bahrain based Green Packet Networks W.L.L (GPN), a joint venture company with Saudi Economic and Development Co. (SEDCO), is actively exploring a number of potential WiMAX collaborations in and around the Gulf.

Despite soaring desktop and laptop sales over the past 18 months coupled with increased national economic development thanks to high oil prices; internet use and broadband development are generally low according to a study by the International Telecommunications Union (ITU).

Whilst the UAE enjoys the highest internet penetration in the GCC, standing at 38.4%, followed closely by Kuwait and Qatar at 32.6% and 32.0% respectively, Bahrain and Saudi Arab are lagging behind with the former recording only 22.2% and the latter, 17% of its population online.

Green Packet's hands-on experience in WiMAX deployment and commercialisation, along with its Research & Development strength and large network of business partners and manufacturers, lends credibility to its global WiMAX ventures to provide license holders and aspiring operators with end-to-end WiMAX related services from business planning to network infrastructure roadmap planning, to marketing, and even the provision of leading-edge WiMAX Customer Premise Equipments (CPEs) developed by Green Packet.

According to Group Managing Director and Group CEO of Green Packet Berhad, Puan Chan Cheong (CC Puan), for emerging countries to lock on to further development and growth, the populace must be information rich. The internet being a colossal source of information, no one country can afford to be left behind in terms of broadband penetration. Now with the growth spurt experienced by the Middle East, all the more the region needs to be on the information super-highway via the internet.

CC Puan believes that WiMAX is the solution to boost the Middle East's low broadband penetration rate.

He said:

"Traditionally, high-speed DSL through fibre or copper cabling is more expensive to deploy and it takes time, consequently, the long wait and higher cost for businesses and consumers. As of today, there are over 260 WiMAX networks deployed in more than 110 countries, and we expect it won't be long before operators in the region, the likes of Saudi Telecom, Zain, and Etisalat, roll out WiMAX services to meet the needs of their customers as well as to introduce new content packages that include voice, data, and video streaming."

Green Packet will be the first in the Asia Pacific to make WiMAX commercially available in Malaysia through its subsidiary and WiMAX operator arm, Packet One Networks (Malaysia) Sdn Bhd (P1). Set to provide network coverage in to the entire West Cost of Peninsular Malaysia by the year end, P1 will enable the world's largest WiMAX network coverage outside of Korea and the world's biggest by population per capita in the 802.16e 2.3Ghz WiMAX spectrum.

"In effect, data providers who roll out next generation services such as WiMAX are not only providing their customers with an answer to getting online as soon as possible, but they're also readying themselves for introducing new products to diversify their revenue streams," added CC Puan.

Suited for emerging markets that have yet to build a broadband infrastructure, according to industry analysts, WiMAX provides fixed broadband wireless metropolitan access networks employing a point-to-multipoint architecture. The much-anticipated technology has been eagerly awaited by organisations hoping to benefit from superfast downloads of up to 10 megabytes per second and upload speeds from distances of up to 50km.

The promise of open, standards-based and interoperable wireless broadband had attracted huge investments in the billions into developing devices, infrastructure and applications. The biggest corporations the likes of Intel, which had invested and partnered with Green Packet and P1, and Alcatel Lucent, Nokia, Motorola and many more, will ensure prices drop dramatically as the service becomes as common as DSL broadband internet.