Wireless Broadband On The Way

Ovum has come out with their latest study suggesting that, at least in Australia, 10% of all broadband connections will be wireless by 2007. They say the figure includes both fixed and mobile wireless broadband connections -- but not data connections over a handset. It's unclear, then, if using a handset as a modem for a laptop would count. With such an early, emerging market, it's really tough to put much faith in predictions like these, but it's worth noting simply for the ability to look back in three years and see where we are. One thing that will be most interesting about broadband wireless adoption is that most of these predictions seem to assume that wireless broadband will be used in the same way that wireline broadband is used today -- that it will just be a straight replacement. As local area wireless broadband via WiFi has shown, that's not likely to be the case. While it does replace that connection, it also opens up many new possibilities thanks to the ability to be mobile.

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