MOTOROLA Inc, the world's second-biggest mobile phone maker, expects China and India to lead growth in the use of WiMax wireless technology as their expanding economies boost demand for high-speed Internet.

"We do expect to see a fast uptake between 2007 and 2008," Ray Owen, head of technology for south and eastern Asia for Motorola's networks and enterprise units, told Bloomberg News in Singapore yesterday.

Motorola, based in Schaumburg, Illinois, and competitors such as Nortel Networks Corp are betting on increased sales of WiMax equipment as phone companies seek to offer faster wireless Web access services. Phone regulators in China and India have yet to formally award WiMax licenses, Owen said.

In Asia, "it's quite clear that broadband and wireless broadband is the key for economic growth, especially in the developing markets," he said at the CommunicAsia telecommunications trade show.

Like wireless fidelity, or Wi-Fi, WiMax creates an area in which electronic devices can connect to the Internet without the use of cables. While Wi-Fi hot spots usually cover an office or home, WiMax networks can encompass entire cities and allow people to transmit larger volumes of data.

Nokia Oyj, based in Espoo, Finland, is the world's largest maker of mobile phones.