Analyst report: The WLAN surge in Asia.

(From Network Computing Asian Edition)

Byline: Frost & Sullivan

According to Frost & Sullivan's most recent Asia-Pacific WLAN market report, the industry secured US$421.2 million in revenue at the end of 2002. It is expected to grow at a compound annual growth rate of 23.5% up till 2009, when it is forecast to record revenues of US$1.84 billion. The market grew by over 58% in 2002. "The flurry of wireless internet and corporate intranet log-ins by the region's small businesses and mobile users can only be attributed to WLANs being fairly affordable, increasingly available and offering enviable bandwidth of up to 54Mbps," said Subha Rama, Frost & Sullivan's industry analyst. "It has already served as an effective alternative to wired networks, as seen in countries like Japan which constitutes about 61% of today's market," she said.

Subha, who spearheaded the research, said that although the region is off to a delayed start, it is poised to see the next big surge in enterprise and commercial deployment of WLANs this year, after North America and Europe. The growth has been evident since the second-half of 2002.

The number of hotspots has escalated, with telecom operators working alongside ISPs to target metro areas, airports, business precincts and hotels. The lure of this technology, which is turning out to be a profitable business proposition, is evident in South Korea alone. The country is planning more than 8,000 hotspots.

Subha believes that the introduction of new killer applications, such as voice over WLAN (beyond pure e-mail and Internet access) will spur the growth of this market. This is coupled with WLANs ability to enable mobile workers to ...