It is still in the early days for predictions, but Juniper Research expects that there will be 21.3 million mobile WiMAX subscribers worldwide by 2012, up from 1.7 million in 2007.

In the US, Sprint/Nextel owns the majority of the 2.5 GHz spectrum that is suitable for WiMAX transmission. Sprint announced that a WiMAX subscriber is likely to be able to receive 2-4 mbps, which is up to four times faster than subscribers are currently experiencing on their wireless 3G networks. While consumers will welcome the extra speed, from Sprint’s point of view the extra bandwidth enables greater network efficiency so it can service greater numbers of customers per cell.

Together with the network rollout, Sprint announced its intention to develop a chipset with Intel, Motorola and Samsung so a variety of interactive consumer electronic and computing devices will be able to take advantage of the WiMAX network. Intel, for one, has been a huge advocate of WiMAX, and Sprint’s decision to go with WiMAX as a wireless broadband technology must have been greeted with a mixture of joy and relief in that company.

Despite the likely enthusiastic reception all round, Frost & Sullivan was probably premature in its June forecast for WiMAX chipset revenues worldwide, estimating revenues of $257.3 million in 2008, up from $18 million in 2005.

Hype aside, WiMAX and its future incarnations provide an important part of the Internet jigsaw puzzle, linking high-speed Internet at home with high-speed Internet on the move. While Wi-Fi provides "hotspots" of high bandwidth in particular locations, WiMAX becomes the moveable hotspot. Applications such as mobile VoIP, Internet radio and video as well as mobile business services will all get a boost from the introduction of WiMAX. It would appear that the always-on, wherever-you-are broadband network is set to become a reality.

More here.