Panellists at the Forum, which forms part of this year's London-based Wireless Lan Event technology show, claimed that WiMax faces stiff competition from established wired and wireless rivals, and uncertainty over spectrum allocation.

However, concerns over hardware standards were described as misplaced, and there is no sign that Chancellor Gordon Brown will charge excessively when the spectrum is sold off.

The panellists all agreed that the competitive environment for WiMax will be tough, and that it will have to co-exist with cellular and DSL services.

"If the device is mobile then it will probably use cellular [connections]," said Ravi Rajagopalan, director of technology and solutions at Lucent Technologies.