3G Hopes

There is a huge upside in opportunities for the growth of
wireless products and infrastructure solutions in the Indian market, as it
gradually moves towards maturity. Industry experts say that the Indian market
will be driven by two things-continuous expansion of GSM and the advent of
3G-over the next two years. For GSM, there is a continuous need for being more
efficient in carrying the traffic, as well as making the expansion of networks
smooth and incur the lowest costs possible. 3G service will attract huge
investments in wireless product, infrastructure, IP backhaul, terminal, and VAS.

Wireless growth has already taken over the growth of
wireline in India. Driven by affordability, reduction in tariffs and taxes,
handset prices, innovative packages to suit different segments, availability,
network expansion, distribution reach, the Indian wireless infrastructure market
is set on a growth path. However, in order to achieve a sustainable growth,
adequate spectrum is required. The available bands for GSM spectrum are 900 MHz
and 1,800 MHz. As of today, the 900 MHz band has been fully utilized and the
1,800 MHz band has miniscule availability.

The government has set up a committee for enhancing
spectrum availability. In fact, India may never have adequate spectrum, but the
country will keep getting its bit from time to time. Spectrum allocation by the
government is a major concern among operators as well as infrastructure
providers. Another concern for infrastructure providers is the dropping prices.
Consolidation, restructuring to improve bottomline and technologies that can
ensure market penetration and cost efficiency will be the main trends in this
space. Setting up a wireless infrastructure in urban areas is difficult, and
hence a greater feasibility is available only in rural areas.

All big private operators are already undertaking 3G
trials (WCDMA/HSPA and CDMA EVDO). A few of the big integrated operators are
also planning to deploy WiMax networks as part of their strategy to provide
connectivity to enterprises. However, with no clarity on BWA spectrum auction,
some service providers have started evaluating the option of leapfrogging to 4G
or LTE. Trai is considering to float a consultation paper on LTE. The industry
was expecting Indian operators to start moving towards this technology by 2011,
but the stalemate over 3G hints that it is quite unlikely.

Trends in Focus

After the Hutchison-Vodafone transaction in 2007, some multinational
operators (Vodafone, Sistema, Etisalat, Telenor, Docomo, etc,) entered into this
market and played together with Indian consortiums. In 2010, the capex and opex
from these players in spectrum auction and 3G/2G rollout and expansion is
expected to be more than $10 bn. The investment patterns will be more and more
diversified in this market, including direct investments from shareholders and
strategic investors, borrowing from local and international financial market,
vendor financing from suppliers, and hiving-off current assets like towers.

On the enterprises side, the market is witnessing the
availability of 802.11n radio devices. Such high speed network capability is
enabling enterprises to adopt wireless as the backbone and be able to roll out
high bandwidth demanding applications.

2009 was marked by the economic crisis with global
implications. The vendors faced some challenges in the market; however, the
industry did see them expanding their product profile and global footprint,
providing them an alternative avenue of growth.

The Pressing Need

Given the limited fixed infrastructure in India and the high cost of
deploying fixed last mile connectivity, wireless technologies are essential to
increase broadband penetration in India. Among wireless technology options that
are available, 3G is an important one as it is the upgrade path for GSM
operators, and their large existing subscriber base is the starting point for
migrating customers to 3G. In addition, 3G can be used both for more efficient
delivery of voice and for mobile broadband.

In emerging markets like India, the need is at two
different levels. At the urban level, there are enterprises and consumers
evolving in their mobile experience by using more and more data services; while
at the rural level, it is about reducing the total cost of ownership to drive
broadband adoption. 3G has evolved to address both these needs simultaneously.
Thus, it has been keeping operators on the edge of their seats.

CIOs are demanding tools that help reduce network
downtime; solutions that assure optimum network availability; and diagnostic
tools that detect vulnerabilities in the network much before it impacts the
network. Wireless intrusion, detection and prevention is another area of strong
focus. Thus, a solution needed should be vendor-agnostic Wireless Intrusion
Prevention System (WIPS). An enterprise solution that provides complete
protection against wireless threats, policy compliance monitoring, robust
performance monitoring and troubleshooting, and location tracking in an
appliance can scale up to meet the largest global organizations' needs. The
solution provides comprehensive protection and operational support for all
802.11n networks as well.

One of the main challenges any network operator faces is
predicting customer demand and preparing the network to support it ahead of
time. Improving or even sustaining a solid RoI is a big challenge for all
network operators, more so in a country like India where ARPUs are one of the
lowest in the world. By using converged and scalable infrastructure, operators
are able to improve their RoI on network infrastructure

Tech Focus

Operators in their expansion modes are spending on 2G equipments,
thus keeping vendors focused on SDR. UMTS/HSPA+ will be the first option for all
operators, which can support both voice service and data access service.

WiMax is at the initial stages of take off. The incumbent
service providers have come out with their RFPs for setting up WiMax networks
for both rural and urban connectivity. In India, since mobile proliferation is
higher than PC penetration, 3G is expected to drive the convergence between
mobile and Internet platforms.

While 3G will revolutionize the way we work, upgrading and
maintaining infrastructure will be a major concern. While upgrading network
infrastructure, service networks for voice, video, and data-to meet the
expanding data/video traffic-will complicate infrastructure providers who are
focused on keeping the costs low. Adding a separate layer and maintaining
quality will become a nightmare for operators.

India benefits from the fact that it can leapfrog in terms
of technology in its quest to connect subscribers. Hence, Indian operators have
the option of choosing advanced technology and vendors with broader experience
of offering LTE in other countries.

Also the adoption of mobility solutions based on the
wireless platform by various industry segments like hospitality, manufacturing,
retail, real estate, etc, is leading to more adoption and proliferation of WLAN.
Government SWAN's and rural connectivity are also leading to more adoption of
wireless in the country. Thus, vendors are enhancing their profile in this
space.

Adoption of IEEE 802.11n standard represents an important
step towards the realization of dual band (2.4GHz and 5GHz) radios. A major
infrastructural issue here is the lack of reliable power supply. The limited
battery life of mobile devices is a key bottleneck, especially since the backup
power available is not sufficient. Also, deploying a wireless LAN, especially in
unlicensed 2.4HGz ISM band used by 802.11b and 802.11g as different devices
compete for the same spectrum. Other concerns persisting enterprises while
setting up a wireless infrastructure include security, reach, interference,
interoperability, and manageability.

The increasing need for anytime connectivity is creating
new challenges for today's networking professionals, who must respond to the
growing demand for WLANs in an era of tight budgets and reduced resources. These
networking professionals are discovering that in the absence of a corporate
sanctioned wireless network, employees are deploying their own unauthorized
access points that put the entire network at risk.

WLAN adoption is still relatively new and niche in India
and the region. It is only now that enterprises and other segments are forced to
rethink their wireless strategy and realize that an integrated approach by
having a seamless integration between fixed and wireless deployment would lead
to more flexibility and productivity.

With respect to WAN network the growth remains stagnant
because of the spectrum issues. However, where LAN is concerned vendors have
been focusing on developing more products. Vendors are enhancing their product
profile and releasing new product with integrated functionalities like ADSL with
wireless to address the growing demand of wireless market.

Network assurance is another area where a significant cost
saving can be achieved. Solutions and diagnostic tools that enable this are
available which can help enterprises to reduce network downtime and cost on
rectifying the outage, and prevent loss of working time due to network outage.
These tools offer early RoI and improve the availability of optimum network
performance at all times. This is why the industry will see development in this
segment.

Wi-Fi deployment have taken off in India, with verticals
such as hospitality, manufacturing, academic institutions being early adopters.
The response to public hotspots (Wi-Fi) was tepid till recent. 2010 will also
see a concentrated focus on the development of wireless cities. With recent
announcements like the government's move to delicense the 2.4 GHz and 5.1 GHz
bands, on which the Wi-Fi platform works and with incumbents looking at this
space actively, the adoption is set to grow. However, the government needs to
clarify some of the bottlenecks that have arisen such as:

• Low power level of the delicensed 2.4 GHz devices have
  to be restricted to 100 mW of radiated power output (26 dBm)
• Coverage area restriction placed 'within the single
  contiguous campus of an individual, duly recognized organization or
  institution'
• Hotspots in public areas still need licenses from the
  wireless planning & coordination wing (WPC) and violations are illegal and
  liable for a penalty
• The outdoor use of the same spectrum requires a license
• Spill over of signals to a public area (like roads or
  streets) is liable to punishment

Some part of the growth comes from the use of wireless connectivity for
physical security applications such as video surveillance across enterprises and
municipalities.

Green Brigade

Vendors in India have been marketing green well. They have been focusing on
solutions to reduce energy consumption of base stations. There are solution
providers in the market with station site energy efficient up to 70%. In a
typical network with approximately 10,000 base station sites and five year-old
equipments. the annual energy savings from these innovations is 51 GWh or 30%
using the existing sites and hardware. With new hardware, the energy saving
results in 109 GWh or 64% per year. This equals 55,000 tons of less CO2
emissions.

In addition, many vendors are innovating with energy
solutions, which run on solar and wind energy. As mobile networks expand into
rural areas, operators cannot always rely on infrastructure, as power grids are
not always reliable or readily available and base station sites need to run
autonomously. A sustainable alternative is to use renewable energy sources such
as wind and solar power.

By 2011, renewable energy will be the first choice for all
remote base station sites that they install. Vendors are working on flexi base
stations that help in lowering operators' costs as it is small, efficient and
energy efficient for unreliable power grid/autonomous sites. The weatherproof
flexi BTS does not need shelter of air conditioning for the site, and thus low
cost sites can be used with low rent, optimal site location and low power
requirements. Also savings on transmission can be achieved with local switching.
So, most connections can be handled locally avoiding the need for excessive
transmission to the operator core sites.

An interesting innovation is the concrete tower solution
that has a lower environmental impact than traditional steel, using one-tenth of
the steel compared to traditional sites. It consumes up to 40% less power from a
lifecycle perspective. This is because concrete results in less energy and CO2
(at least 30% lower) than steel during production and transport. But the most
important fact is that during operation feeder losses are substantially reduced,
and no active cooling is needed.

On the efficiency front, one of the key breakthrough
technologies we expect to gain momentum is in the domain of spectrum
optimization as part of evolution of GSM. Given the hyper competition in the
India telecom industry, CTOs should deploy solutions that reduce their total
cost of ownership. This means solutions that bring around efficiencies in power
and spectrum utilization and offer high capacity and coverage in a given area.
Therefore, the thrust is on how to make the best of the spectrum that is
available, which is so scarce and the demand for the services so high.

Heena Jhingan

heenaj@cybermedia.co.in