The battle over which standards and regulations will dominate the flourishing wireless arena continues to impact deployment speeds, comments Jan ten Sythoff, Programme Manager at Frost and Sullivan. There are different regulations governing 5Ghz technology in different parts of the world, he explains, and consequently, inconsistent standards have been introduced to accommodate these rules. The lack of standardisation will continue to inhibit growth in the 5Ghz space. Another important issue underlined in Frost and Sullivan's findings is the prevalent need of the technology to develop further in order to become viable, particularly for mobile applications. Today, WLAN is cumbersome and power-hungry and although some systems are available, they are not adequate for mainstream markets.
High costs are also a restraining factors.
Despite these problems, the market exhibits vast potential for growth. 5Ghz technology has a wide range of diverse applications, all enjoying substantial growth prospects. A further profitable revenue stream, the study concludes, will be offered by the integration of WLAN technology with the potentially mammoth 3G infrastructure market, currently beset by problems of its own.