Spreading the wireless net

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: are benefiting considerably from IT by ‘leapfrogging’ heritage technologies like copper wires in favour of technologies like WiMax. Ovum estimates 46% of WiMax users in 2011 will be located in Asia Pacific region, where wired infrastructure is poor or even non-existent. In Pakistan, for one, Wateen Telecom is rolling out the mobile WiMax network in 22 cities including Karachi, Lahore and Peshawar.

At its launch last year, it also staked claim on being the world’s largest with its CEO Tariq Malik saying, “We are proud to be the largest and the first in the world to rollout a WiMax 802.16 e network in 22 cities.” Excitement seems to be spreading to Africa and Latin America too. Korea and Japan have been leading the WiMax deployments till now. KDDI, the Japanese operator, is yet to roll it out nationwide and Korea has its own version, called WiBRO. India has allotted 3.3 GHz frequency while the worldwide standard is 2.5 GHz, which means vendors will have to build special equipment for India. However, allotment in 3.3 GHz band is also on anvil.

This means that we might be among the first few to test WiMax on such a large scale. Cost and return equations are being hotly debated. “Users don’t care whether you put up a WiMax or ADSL. If we are able to deliver a 256 kbps connection at Rs 500 per month, it should be good. Cost of equipment still hovers around $70 on a volume deal, compared to a $40 for ADSL,” opines Bharti’s Sriram.

Fierce competition is expected to bring the prices down. India’s service tariffs are among the lowest in the world. Indian users currently pay between $15 and $23 per month for unlimited usage of broadband services. However, the DoT is considering free broadband services. Gartner expects price for a WiMax 802.16-2004d solution at $30 per line in the near future.

The good news is that products for the mobile version are now making an appearance. After several postponements, WiMax Forum labs has started the certification tests from the end of 2007. From then to February 2008, 28 Wave 2 WiMax products in the 2.3 GHz and 2.5 GHz band have been sent to WiMax Forum labs for certification.