November 22, 2004

According to a recent survey done by In-Stat / MDR, China's WLAN market is expected to experience a strong 33 percent increase in revenues from 2004 to 2008.

WLANs, or wireless local area networks, allow users to connect to the Internet through high-frequency radio waves, without the need for direct Ethernet lines between the computer and the network hub.

This allows for greater ease and flexibility in connecting multiple computers to the Net, and also allows users to keep their connection as they move around an area with a notebook computer.

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In-Stat finds that WLAN equipment revenues in China will nearly triple between 2004 and 2008, rising from $54 million to $160 million.

Although China is surrounded by technologically advanced neighbors who are also embracing WLANs, various factors, including government support for technology (tempered by moves to restrict users' access to unapproved content), the robust economic growth of the Chinese economy, overwhelming population numbers, a rise in urban income and the declining costs of wireless equipment, will boost the country into becoming one of the dominant markets for WLAN in the Asia-Pacific region.

A 2003 IDC study projects that China will account for 45% of WLAN equipment revenues in Asia-Pacific (excluding Japan) by 2007.

This increase in WLAN sales will also be a result of lowered prices for notebook computers. In-Stat notes that notebook sales in China have been slow so far, but are expected to have risen 30% by the end of 2004, many shipped with the capability to connect to a WLAN.

The rise of wireless networking has not yet helped China's homegrown WLAN industry — foreign equipment makers account for 70% of the market.

Source: eMarketer