Around 1000 customers are testing WiMAX in Pakistan. Operators carrying out the trials include Wateen Telecom and Warid Telecom.
Trials reveal that the main problem that could limit the WiMAX potential in Pakistan is the cost of CPE, which is very high. The cost of CPE is more than 200 US dollars. In Pakistan a GSM handset starts at around $20 while a CDMA set would start at $50 or so.
According to the Pakistani operators, if manufacturers in Taiwan and other parts of the world come up with CPEs below $50 range, then WiMAX has a chance there. In a country like Pakistan where legacy copper wire voice service is not that great, WiMAX has good immediate potential. With WiMAX operators are able to serve customers efficiently in a short span of time. This is possible because of the ease of deployment of WiMAX and its reach.