A fixed wireless solution not only offers competitive internet access, it can do the same for telephone service thus further bypassing the telephone company's copper wire network. Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) offers a wider range of voice services at reduced cost to subscribers and service providers alike. The diagram below illustrates a typical solution where a WiMAX service provider can obtain wholesale VoIP services (no need for the WiMAX service provider to install and operate a VoIP softswitch) at about $5/number/month and resell to enterprise customers at $50.




Figure 34: VoIP is the "killer app" for WiMAX

In residential markets, VoIP is a "must offer" service. Without the additional revenue per user (think ARPU where "A" is for average), WiMAX does not offer a compelling reason to switch from other forms of residential broadband. When bundled with broadband internet access and IPTV, a WiMAX triple play becomes very attractive to residential subscribers. Given the QoS, security and reliability mechanisms built into WiMAX, sub-scribers will find WiMAX VoIP as good or better than voice services from the telephone company.


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