In-Stat/MDR claims market demand for Wireless Local Area Network (WLAN) equipment and services in the China marketplace is heating up. The high-tech research firm expects WLAN equipment revenues in China to increase at a near 33% CAGR from about $54 mln in 2004 to almost $160 mln by 2008. The company has found that although China Netcom deployed the first WLAN service in China in 2001, that foreign equipment providers still hold the lion?s share of the WLAN market in this region with a combined 70% share of overall revenues.
With its enormous population, China as a market still exhibits very low penetration rates for PDAs and Notebook computers, however, notebook computer sales are expected to increase by 30% this year and an increasing number of those will be shipped with WLAN capability.