Advertisment

WiMax : Maximizing Momentum

author-image
VoicenData Bureau
New Update

While the debate on which of the two technologies-3G or WiMax-is better

suited to meet enterprise needs remains inconclusive, equipment manufacturers

are preparing faster 'go-to-market' strategies with a slew of gadgets enabled

for wireless broadband access (WBA) based on WiMax technology. The manufacturers

believe that though the auction for WiMax spectrum is stuck in delays,

availability of these gadgets will keep enterprises and consumers on a watch out

for the technology.

Advertisment

WiMax Forum, a body comprising 522 operators, and component and equipment

companies as members, is soon expected to add an Indian certification lab to its

existing network this year. This will help solve concerns of the device-hungry

Indian market, which can look forward to connected laptops, USB dongles,

ultra-mobile PCs (UMPCs), mobile handsets, and mobile Internet devices (MIDs).

Getting Tech-Ready



The WiMax Forum and industry body, Assocham, are optimistic and expect the

Indian market to support about 19 mn WiMax connections by 2012, representing

about 20% of the global WiMax user base in 2.5/2.3 GHz bands. This expectation

currently appears over ambitious as the broadband market fears that the delay in

spectrum allocation will push WiMax penetration beyond 2010. But the Forum is

confident that if the technology is available off-the-shelf, operators will have

the capability to kick-off full-fledged services within three months of the

spectrum being allocated.

Advertisment

The fact that operators like Bharti Airtel, BSNL, Tata and Reliance have

already started to offer their WiMax services on 3.3 GHz, is an indication that

the industry is looking at WiMax as a reliable solution to increase broadband

penetration in the country. Some mobile operators have been using it for their

backhaul connectivity, however, the use has been limited as spectrum is not

available with operators to offer widespread services. The industry is betting

big on the BWA spectrum to introduce these services at a full-fledged level.

Once BWA spectrum is allocated, these players will be able to offer WiMax

services on 2.3 and 2.5 GHz spectrum. Players like Motorola, Soma Networks, and

Nokia Siemens are investing heavily on mobile WiMax.

According to VOICE&DATA estimates, in the financial year gone by, the WiMax

equipment market experienced an incredible growth of about 239% as against a

growth rate of a minuscule 8% in FY 2007-08. The country still has a huge rural

area that needs to get broadband coverage. The operators are now heading towards

rural destinations. In the times ahead, the country is expected to receive heavy

investments in mobile WiMax space. Also, the market is likely to witness a

thrust on mobile WiMax, especially for providing services like m-care,

m-commerce, m-learning and m-governance.

Our decision on

WiMax will be evaluated as a function of availability and application. We

would wait for complete 3G rollout to happen; only then will we plan any

investment

Arun Gupta,

CTO, Shoppers Stop

Before investing

in a technology, any company would like to ensure that the gadgets it is

buying are interoperable and meet the standard specifications

Atul Luthra, head, IT, PVR

We are seeing

WiMax embedded notebook and other gadgets flooding the Indian market. Many

more will follow

CS

Rao,
WiMax Forum

The flexibility of

service ensures that each enterprise customer derives optimal bandwidth to

meet both his business needs as well budgetary requirements

Sudhir Kadam, Soma Networks

Advertisment

President of WiMax Forum (India Chapter) CS Rao says that India is being

considered as a key market for WiMax technology, with major players such as

Alcatel-Lucent, Motorola, Huawei, and Samsung planning to invest heavily on the

technology.

“We are seeing WiMax embedded notebook and other gadgets flooding the Indian

market. Many more will follow,” Rao says.

Advertisment

Raining Gadgets



The WiMax Forum is committed to bring as many products in the market as it

can. In June this year, the Forum certified ten new devices. This includes its

first netbook, and notebook computer. The Forum has also been working towards

encouraging WiMax service providers to extend their services to larger numbers.

Till February this year, at least 430 mn people were covered.

The range of devices can vary from notebooks, PCs, handsets, smartphones,

consumer electronics, to even gaming devices, cameras, camcorders, music players

and more. Manufacturers are working on a broad range of devices such as user

Internet tablets, PCs ultra portable computers, and mobile phones that will be

WiMax enabled.

Intel is taking the lead with the first-ever combined WiMax/Wi-Fi module

chips for laptops. Manufacturers like Acer, ASUS, Lenovo, and Toshiba seem to be

on board as well to use these chips. Others like Dell, Panasonic, Samsung, and

Sony also plan to support the WiMax/Wi-Fi chips in their new laptops that will

hit the market later this year. The idea is to build awareness around the new

technology and to get enough varieties of devices into the market that are WiMax

ready.

Advertisment
What India Needs to Learn

from Others' WiMax Experience
  • The US has thirty-five WiMax enabled

    notebooks. In Russia, there are over thirty WiMax enabled devices, and a

    GSM/WiMax dual-mode handset
  • Taiwan's WiMax equipment makers will

    generate revenues of above $303-393 mn this year, up from $184 mn in 2008,

    according to its Ministry of Economic Affairs
  • The ease of regulatory environment in many

    foreign countries has helped operators and companies to scale up

    opportunities in the WiMax space
  • Although the technology has made little

    progress in Asian countries such as Indonesia and China, industry experts

    feel that with the help of government policies, China alone can have over

    40% of global WiMax subscribers by 2012
  • In one of the most awaited WiMax auctions

    of Europe in 2006-07, France allotted forty-four regional WiMax licenses

    in 3.5 GHz spectrum to operators and local governments. As per the earlier

    plan, 3,564 WiMax locations should have gone live by June 2008. However,

    only 14% of the total sites planned have been built during that period.

    According to reports, the reason for this was the poor performance of the

    technology. WiMax failed to meet the desired expectations of operators in

    the country. Also, the approval of standard for mobile WiMax, was one of

    the main reasons for slow advancement of the technology in the country

Rao sees good case for WiMax in India. “WiMax promises the user of broadband

speed that is unheard of. I definitely see great interest from the enterprises

to deploy WiMax, as the technology offers ample mobility to the employee.”

Sudhir Kadam, senior vice president, consumer services, Soma Networks says

the enterprises in India are quite bullish about making WiMax a part of their

infrastructure investments because of the RoI it promises in the form of high

user experience, lower costs of communication and collaboration, and

scalability.

Advertisment

For Soma Networks that has partnered with BSNL to offer BWA services in three

circles currently-Gujarat, Maharashtra and Andhra Pradesh-Gujarat Industrial

Development Corporation (GIDC) is the first enterprise to benefit from this

service. GIDC will make this service available to industries housed in their

estates, and will also use this service in their own administrative offices.

“We are seeing tremendous success in our private and government enterprise

segments. SESA Goa, India's largest exporter of iron ore in the private sector,

has signed up as the first enterprise customer in Goa for BSNL-Soma's broadband

service,” Kadam informs.

He says, “All the applications that would drive business value will be

adopted by enterprises. Some of the applications which enterprises would use are

CRM solutions, ERP access, stocks, banking and e-commerce, surveillance and

security.”

Advertisment

Vendors are basing their strategies keeping enterprise expectations in mind.

Kadam says, “Our pitch to the enterprise customer is based on

fundamentals-access, applications and affordability. We have an array of custom

designed plans for the enterprise segment ranging from 512 Kbps to 2 Mbps. The

flexibility of service ensures that each enterprise customer derives optimal

bandwidth to meet both his business needs as well budgetary requirements.”

“If we look at the case of an SME, the technology fits its needs well. It

gives its employees the freedom to be out-of-office and still be connected. A

host of devices are available and the enterprise does not need to make huge

investments. An organization needs an indoor CPE, an individual requires a

dongle. And each user has a choice to pick from a wide variety of laptops and

netbooks,” Rao informs, adding that some operators like Tata and Reliance

Communications are already focusing on these organizations.

There are over 400 models of the devices of all types. The manufactures like

ASUS, Acer, Lenovo, Intel have introduced WiMax netbooks and laptops in the

range of $200-1,000. There are about thirty-five certified dongle manufactures,

each having three or four models which are available in the market in a price

range of Rs 1,500-2,000. WiMax chips cost between Rs 2,500-4,000 depending on

the applications they support.

Talking Business



What is crucial is that the availability of WiMax enabled gadgets in India

should be able to attract potential subscribers. Even as the market is now

getting richer with a range of WiMax enabled gadgets, the enterprises do not

want to hasten their investment decision. Although enterprises agree that the

market's preparedness builds up momentum for the technology, but the deployment

has to be planned considering factors other than availability of gadgets.

Arun Gupta, CTO, Shoppers Stop says, “For an enterprise like us, connectivity

is crucial. Our decision on WiMax will be evaluated as a function of

availability and application. We would wait for complete 3G rollout to happen;

only then will we plan any investment.”

Supporters of WiMax believe that it has an edge over 3G or Wi-Fi as far as

technology for enterprises is concerned. Unlike Wi-Fi that covers smaller areas,

like a restaurant or a confined area like a building, WiMax can extend over an

entire city. Also, it enables higher speeds of uploads and downloads.

“WiMax is definitely a good option for enterprises, but we have no plans of

making investments in WiMax as of now. Even if there are gadgets available, what

is yet to be seen is how well can this technology support applications that are

critical for us. Before investing in a technology, any company would like to

ensure that the gadgets it is buying are interoperable and meet the standard

specifications,“ says Atul Luthra, head, IT, PVR.

Enterprises have realized that having a variety of gadgets is not enough. It

is not only 3G that WiMax has to compete with. Other economies such as Russia

are looking at higher versions of technologies like 4G. Samsung and Yota

unveiled 4G netbooks in Russia. The netbook supports advanced WiMax technology.

Enterprises say that though there are no major technical hurdles in deploying

WiMax, except the capacity limits imposed by some broadband services, they do

not want to make a choice without having a clarity on the future of the

technology in India.

Operators in India are awaiting BWA spectrum auction. License fee will

determine the cost of service to the subscriber. Enterprises say that even if

gadgets are low-cost, and the service is not cost-effective, the technology will

fail to kick-off.

Heena Jhingan



heenaj@cybermedia.co.in

Advertisment