Taipei, April 24, 2008 (CENS)--WiMAX Forum has decided to hold its WiMAX Forum Operator Summit in Taipei in June after closing a high-profile event in Singapore early this month.

Founded in 2001, the forum is an industry-led, non-profit organization designed to certify and promote the compatibility and interoperability of broadband wireless products based upon the harmonized IEEE 802.16/ETSI HiperMAN standard. Its goal is to accelerate the introduction of these systems into the marketplace.

It now has more than 522 members comprising the majority of operators, component and equipment companies in the telecom sector. The forum regularly holds summits in Europe, the United States and Asia every year.

Taiwan hosted two events last year for its increasingly important position in global WiMAX field.

This year, the Taipei meeting will be held June 2-6. The Ministry of Economic Affairs here estimates 200 to 250 companies will attend the Taipei conference this year, 30% more attendees than last year.

Currently, Taiwan`s WiMAX products are categorized into wireless and wireline segments, with specifications covering 2.3GHz, 2.5GHz and 3.5GHz of spectrum. Although the forum already opened a certification laboratory in Taiwan, none of Taiwanese equipment suppliers has had their products certified at the laboratory because of expensive certificating charge-US$150,000 for a piece of equipment.

However, they have started shipping the equipment to international big-name suppliers after cross-examining their products with the buyers. Zyxel Communications Corp., for instance, shipped tens of thousands of the equipment a month last quarter and has begun shipping the equipment to telecom carrier Sprint Nextel this month. The company estimates its shipments will not grow considerably until the second half this year.

GemTek Technology Co., Ltd. shipped close to 30,000 sets of WiMAX equipment last month alone, an increase from 10,000-20,000 sets a month last year. It estimates the shipments to accumulate up to 200,000 sets throughout this half, the best score of all local equipment suppliers`.

Accton Wireless Broadband Corp. (AWB), partly held by Accton Technology Corp., is delivering only few thousands of sets a month.

(by Ken Liu)