HELP ON WAY. But the appeal of anytime-anywhere wireless could reach beyond existing customers. Perhaps you're a frustrated cable subscriber whose modem pushes broadband data rates at slower and slower speeds thanks to multi-tenant or neighborhood congestion on the shared networks. Or maybe you're too far from your local phone company's central office to get high-speed DSL service. Are you really willing to wait for the telco to deploy fiber to the home (FTTH) in the next decade? We believe the major telcos are facing a range of delays in this effort.

Fortunately in the near future, the broadband-starved may receive help via a new wireless technology named WiMAX, which stands for worldwide interoperability for microwave access. Several years in the making, WiMAX provides the IEEE 802.16 technology standard for 2 gigahertz to 11 Ghz within a wireless metropolitan area or rural location. It supplies broadband wireless connectivity to fixed and mobile users.

Leading companies have made several major announcements this year that, in our view at S&P, suggest commercial service starting sometime in 2006. In our opinion, WiMAX is the ultimate complement to Wi-Fi.