Alvarion shows substantial growth in WiMAX™ deployments throughout Latin America

Alvarion continues to propel WiMAX in the region with 39 commercial networks and shipments that top $100 million

Alvarion Ltd, the world's leading provider of WiMAX™ and wireless broadband solutions, today announced the progress of its WiMAX business in Latin America with a steady increase in business volume and enhanced customer base of over 30 operators. Large Latin American operators are choosing Alvarion's 4Motion® solution based on the company's WiMAX Forum Certified™ BreezeMAX® base station, as the optimum platform to offer the benefits of ubiquitous broadband connectivity to residential and business consumers.

To date, Alvarion has delivered more than $100 million worth of WiMAX equipment for  networks deployed throughout Latin America, primarily in Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Costa Rica, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala, Mexico, Paraguay, Peru and Venezuela.

Wally Swain, Senior Vice Present, Emerging Markets, Yankee Group commented, "The lack of wired infrastructure and low broadband penetration on one hand, with numerous WiMAX license opportunities on the other, creates an attractive future for the WiMAX market in Latin America. Alvarion has demonstrated its strong support for WiMAX operators in the region and is actively shaping this market's promising broadband opportunities."

"We are proud to play a key role for broadband growth in Latin America," said Tzvika Friedman, president and CEO of Alvarion. "Our technology leadership gives our customers a first-mover advantage and superior business case, particularly valuable in this highly dynamic industry. Our success in Latin America is the result of qualities we bring to the global marketplace, with fast and flexible response to customers, true OPEN WiMAX solutions, excellent project execution - all reinforced by strong financials and full commitment to WiMAX."

We are proud to play a key role for broadband growth in Latin America," said Tzvika Friedman, president and CEO of Alvarion

Latin America has a population of 550 million with a broadband penetration below 15%. Brazil, for example, only has a 3% penetration rate, and over 40% of the country's cities lack mobile telephony, broadband access and cable TV services. Latin America is also one of the most urbanized regions with 75% of the residents living in metropolitan settings. WiMAX offers an excellent solution to quickly reach these large numbers of end users, while saving the investment in cost and time needed for wired infrastructure. Answering to the unique needs of this market, Alvarion's solution enables operators to achieve a strong business case through its ability to offer greater coverage, capacity and throughput for enhanced end-user experience.

"WiMAX has proven to be the driving force for enabling mass deployments of affordable broadband and primary voice services," continued Friedman. "In the mature Latin American market operators are materializing the broadband service opportunities through WiMAX today, and are looking to introduce many new applications to drive the uptake in the market. With the high growth rate of WiMAX users, Latin America is expected to reach over one million subscribers in the next few years. We look forward to helping our customers realize the vast potential of the region."