Cisco Buys Navini

Cisco's acquisition of Navini Networks for $330 million in cash and options (it's 124th such purchase) is a sign that WiMAX technologies will now be a significant focus of carriers and equipment vendors, not only in underserved areas, but also densely-populated markets where a mobile wireless broadband solution may be a strong component of a mobile phone carrier's broadband mobility strategies.

In May, we issued a report titled Mobile Broadband Wireless: Path Toward 4G. In this report, we predict that mobile WiMAX will connect 8% of the world’s 1.1 billion mobile broadband subscribers by 2012, accounting for nearly 88 million users worldwide (see press release).