4G networks launched in Oslo, Norway and Stockholm, Sweden.

The much awited 4G networks is launched in Oslo, Norway and Stockholm, Sweden.The speed of a 4G connection can be as much as 100 megabits a second, and 4G LTE has broad acceptance from the industry.

Earlier this year, Hermann Hauser, an industry expert on broadband, told TG Daily that: "There's no doubt that the next generation standard will be LTE."

He suggested that WiMAX, a standard for metropolitan broadband strongly backed by chip giant Intel, will cede victory to LTE. At the same conference, a senior executive from Texas Instruments said that chipsets for LTE are already shipping and in the next three years the technology, broadly accepted by the telcos, will be deployed in volume.

Some regions of the world, such as India, are still waiting for decent deployment of 3g network.

BSNL WiMAX 4G KERALA: Widened to Trichur , Malappuram, Palaghat, Alleppey, Pathanamthitta, Kottayam,Kollam

BSNL WIMAX COVERAGE
BSNL has widened its WiMax wireless internet services in Kerala. The WiMax service will be now available at 348 base stations in the urban areas of Kerala Circle which includes Trichur , Malappuram, Palaghat, Alleppey, Pathanamthitta, Kottayam and Kollam districts.

Earlier this service was available at Ernakulam, Thiruvananthapuram , Calicut , Kannur , Kasargod, and Wayanad Districts .

Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access, known as the WiMax for short, is an approved Broadband Wireless Access [BWA] technology in India. BSNL is the only operator who has the licensed spectrum to operate the same currently in the country.

This technology is a4G technology which offers speed upto 32 Mbps and is different from the current wireless technologies like EDGE, EVDO etc. The data transfer occurs via wireless modem which can be placed interior/exterior or via usb dongle.

BSNL WiMAX Kerala updated Coverage:Kottayam

The people of Kottayam(Kerala) got the 4th generation Mobile broadband technology with BSNL WiMAX today onwards. Most of the main administrative and hospital logs are covered by this WiMAX technology. The updated area of coverage by the BSNL Bse Transmitting Stations for Mobile WiMAX service in Kottayam District is Provided below:


1.Kottayam Central
2.Nagambadam
3.Colleges and Main Offices

• CMS College Higher Secondary School KottayamM.T Seminary Higher Secondary School, Kottayam
• Kendriya Vidyalaya, Kottayam Kendriya Vidyalaya,Rubber Board, Kottayam
Jawahar Navodaya Vidyalaya Kottayam
• Mahatma Gandhi University and its Departments
• S.V.R.N.S.S. College, (Kodungoor) Vazhoor, Kottayam
• Medical College, Kottayam
• Govt. Rajiv Gandhi Institute of Technology, Pampady, Kottayam
• College of applied science (under IHRD), Puthupally
College of Engineering, Kidangoor
• Baselius College, Kottayam
• B.C.M College for Women, Kottayam
Government College, Nattakom
• Theophilus College of Nursing, Devagiri, Kangazha, Kottayam.
• P G M College, Devagiri, Kangazha, Kottayam.
• P Geevarghese School of Nursing, Devagiri, Kangazha, Kottayam.
• School of Laboratory Technology MGDM Hospital, Devagiri, Kangazha, Kottayam.
S.F.S Public School & Junior College ,Ettumanoor
• N.S.S. College Perunna, ChanganacherryCollege of applied science (under IHRD), PuthupallyS.B College, ChanganasseryK.G College, Pampady
• Government College, NattakomMangalam College of Engineering, EttumanoorDevamatha College, KuravilangadDepaul English medium & public H.S.S. school Kuravilangadu
• P Geevarghese School of Nursing, Devagiri, Kangazha, Kottayam.
• School of Laboratory Technology MGDM Hospital, Devagiri, Kangazha, Kottayam
Saintgits College of Engineering, PathamuttomGovt. Polytechnic College, NattakomS.F.S Public School & Junior College ,Ettumanoor

4.Ettumanoor
5.Kodimatha Market
6.Mooledam
7.Kaduthuruthi
8.Thazhathangadi
9.Thirunakkara
10.Athirampuzha
11.Manarkadu
12.Ayarkunnam
13.changanasseri
14.Vazhappalli
15.Karukachal
16.Pampady
17.Kuravlangadu
18.Kidangoor and many more.....

So new users of Wimax can write your reviews hereas comments...

Mobile Number Portability(MNP) will launch on 20th January 2011 in India

Competition set to intensify as interim telecom minister declares operators ready to roll out number portability.

India Thursday started mobile number portability services in a northern state to allow users to change their operators without changing their cellphone numbers, and said the service will be introduced nationwide on Jan. 20.

The launch of the new service will likely intensify competition in the world's fastest-growing telecommunications market by subscriber additions, and may prompt operators to further reduce call tariffs, which are already among the lowest in the world, to retain users.

Kapil Sibal, the interim telecom minister, said after launching the service in Haryana state that all operators are now ready to provide this service and their networks in the remaining 21 telecom service areas have started migration to the number portability system.

The launch of the service was deferred thrice as some telecom operators weren't ready with their networks to provide the service.

Telecom Secretary R. Chandrashekhar said number portability will increase competition among operators in terms of tariffs and service quality.

India adds more than 15 million wireless subscribers a month and is the second-largest market after China for wireless services with more than 670 million users. The fast pace of growth has led to an intense price war, with new companies launching aggressive offers to attract subscribers and existing players lowering tariffs to retain users. That has pushed tariffs as low as INR0.10 a minute for some plans.

Sanjay Kasturia, chief executive of Syniverse Technologies India Pvt. Ltd., the company which has the license to provide number portability services in 11 of India's 22 telecom service areas, said he expects 2%-3% of users to change operators in the next 12 months.

Separately, Secretary Chandrashekhar said that the telecom department hasn't yet issued notices to any operator seeking a fee toward availing excess bandwidth.

Late Wednesday, the Financial Times newspaper, citing two senior government officials, said India's Bharti Airtel Ltd.(532454.BY), state-owned Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd. and Vodafone Group PLC (VOD) unit Vodafone Essar Ltd. could be forced to pay more than $1 billion each to the government as fines for receiving excess bandwidth.

This came after an audit determined that the telecom ministry in 2008 allotted bandwidth for second-generation mobile licenses to the three operators beyond the contracted limit without charging any fees upfront.

The scandal over the license and bandwidth allotment led to the resignation of Andimuthu Raja as telecom minister earlier this month. The government later appointed Sibal as the interim telecom minister.

In May, the telecom regulator had suggested charging a one-time fee from companies which hold excess bandwidth for 2G services and that this fee should be linked to 3G spectrum. The move was opposed by most operators, including Bharti and Vodafone Essar.

Thursday, the regulator also said it will bring out rules on spam calls and text messages in the next few days.

BSNL will get Fund Rs.2395 crore for rural WiMax Deployment

BSNL will be given a grant of Rs 2,395 crore with a list of riders to enable the telco to complete the rollout of its wireless broadband services, an official in the telecom ministry aware of the development told ET.

Last month, BSNL had blared its disgust at operating as a social workhorse without compensation, and the state-owned telco had bluntly told the government that it would continue building wireless internet services across rural India only with a grant of Rs 2,395 crore more to support an unviable business.

The state-owned telecom company, which offers services in all parts of the country except Delhi and Mumbai, had written to the telecom department stating that it is against rolling out services on the rural WiMAX project on a no-profit/loss basis without adequate financial support.

The telecom department in a November 16 communication to BSNL had asked it to rework its estimates for its WiMax initiative and spread the costs associated with the project over a 20-year time frame, while also adding that the additional spectrum cost of Rs 1,662 crore must not be front loaded as this resource can be used over two decades.

The telco has also been asked to scale down its projections that 5% of its total revenues from this service would be incurred towards distribution and 2% towards marketing. It has also been asked to work out infrastructure sharing deals with other operators to lower costs.

The project is divided into three parts, and under phase-I about 1,000 towers for WiMAX are to be set up, followed by 6,863 units in the second phase.

So far, the Department of Information Technology , has agreed to provide subsidies to the tune of Rs 710 crore for the two phases — Rs 160 crore for setting up the first 1,000 towers and Rs 550 crore for the remaining. But BSNL has said that it can support a maximum of 1,798 towers with this level of funding.

This implies it can only build 798 towers when compared to the requirement of close to 7,000 units for completion of phase-II. BSNL’s move to stop the project will see only 17,000 Computer Service Centres (CSCs) get WiMAX-based internet connectivity across rural India against the government’s commitment to link over 62,000 CSCs through this project.

4G Africa selects Alvarion for Cameroon WiMAX rollout

Wireless broadband equipment supplier Alvarion has announced it has been chosen by Swiss telecoms firm 4G Africa to deploy a mobile WiMAX network in Cameroon. Under the contract, which is valued at USD2 million, the Israel-based vendor will deploy infrastructure in the cities of Douala and Yaounde using its end-to-end Mobile WiMAX 4Motion solution in the 2.5GHz frequency band. ‘4G Africa is focused on establishing WiMAX networks in emerging Sub-Saharan countries, such as Cameroon, with the overall aim to reduce the digital divide,’ commented Dov Bar-Gera, CEO of 4G Africa, adding: ‘Leveraging Alvarion’s technology and expertise allows us to provide a high-performance quality network, offering valuable broadband services to the residents in this market.’ Services are slated for launch in 2011 and are expected to provide connectivity to over 10,000 users within the first year of operation.

BSNL WiMAX in Ranga Reddy district

The facility is extremely useful for home users, individuals and home-office users in the district

People living in Ranga Reddy district can now access fastest wireless broadband connectivity with the BSNL rolling out the WiMAX facility in Shamshabad and Maheshwaram mandals. click here to Readmore

BSNL invites bids for 6,800 WiMax towers

Governmet-owned Bharat Sanchar Nigam (BSNL) has invited bids to set up 6,800 WiMax towersin southern zone. The tender for setting up the WiMax base transceiver stations (BTS) is estimated at Rs 1,400 crore.

A senior official from BSNL told Financial Chronicle that the company has received bids from some of the players and is evaluating them. “We are evaluating the bids both in terms of technical and financial compliance. We will announce the successful bidder by next week. For the 6,800 towers it is estimated that the value would be around Rs 1,400 crore,” he said. This implementation for the BTS has initially been rolled out for the South zone.

At present, 1,000 towers are in the implementation stage under the first tender. The public sector undertaking (PSU) has outlined Rs 300 crore for setting up 1,000 towers.

“Once the roll-out is complete, we will start marketing the product for our customers. BSNL is the first operator in the country to offer wireless high speed broadband. We have not yet set a deadline for the launch of the service. Each signal from every tower will be available within a radius of 15 kilometres and it will be able to accommodate 1,000 customers,” he added.

Being government run operators, both BSNL and Mahanagar Telephone Nigam (MTNL) were the first service providers allotted WiMax spectrum. The department of telecom (DoT) has allotted WiMax spectrum in 2.5 GHz frequency band. MTNL has already invited bids from global players to set up and run its WiMax operations in Mumbai and Delhi.

WiMax or worldwide interoperability for microwave access is a wireless digital communications system for high speed broadband services.

The WiMax Forum forecasts that India will have 19 million WiMax subscribers by 2012, or 20 per cent of the world’s WiMax user base.

The government plans to auction the WiMax spectrum in January 2010, after which private telecom companies would be able to commercially roll out high-speed wireless broadband services. Last month the empowered group of ministers (EGoM) fixed Rs 1,750 crore as the reserve price for WiMax spectrum.

4G in US :Sprint launches 4th Generation Services

Sprint has unveiled their 4G services to US citizens. There are 48 cities that will have this service that offers a fast internet connection speed. It is available in areas of California, Delaware, Florida and Michigan. A full list of locations is available at www.sprint.com. A Spring spokesman said: “Later this year, Sprint will launch Boston, Miami, New York and Los Angeles, enabling millions more to harness this powerful new service.”

The speed is greatly increase in comparison with 3G (10 times more) so there will be no more lag on streaming videos or slow downloads. For the time being people will enjoy this technology on HTC EVO™ 4G. This will also be available on Samsung Epic™ 4G.

You can try 4G for 30 days and if you are not fully satisfied with it you will get your money back. Sprint also offers unlimited Web, texting and calling on its network for a low price.

5G Future of AFRICA

Anyone living in Africa and interested in the future of affordable access will have spent some time trying to make sense of the complex evolving web of technology, regulatory policy, cultural issues, literacy, affordability etc that make up the ecology of communication infrastructure. Fortunately the market has sorted out a big chunk of that out for us. The future is mobile. Even your mother knows that the future is mobile. And mobile phones are evolving at a pace that no one dreamt of.

But other wireless technologies are evolving at an equally rapid rate. In the little over 10 years of its existence, WiFi has gone from 1mb/s to over 300 mb/s in performance and while performance has gone up, price has gone down. Nowadays, you find WiFi in an astounding array of devices from mobile phones to laptops to music devices to printers and projectors. Access to WiFi networks has also exploded. Nowadays a corporate building, public institution, airport, or even a cafe without WiFi is becoming a bit of an anomaly. But WiFi is not a mobile technology.

So how do those important but seemingly divergent technologies fit into the evolving technological landscape on the continent? Especially in the context of concerns that 3G operators simply will not be able to cope with the exploding demand for broadband access. In the U.S. the data demands of iPhone users has at times overwhelmed AT&T’s network. AT&T has experienced a 5000 percent growth in data traffic in the last three years. They have noticeably struggled to upgrade fast enough to cope with the demand, although things appear to have improved recently.

Lately motile operators have begun to hedge their bets in North America and Europe with the introduction of technologies like Femtocells to off-load network traffic . Femtocells are consumer devices which establish a micro mobile base station in your home and use your broadband Internet connection to backhaul your mobile voice and data to the operator’s core network. This takes the load off the mobile network for the operators and, in theory, saves the consumer money. It is also a good solution for homes in areas with poor 3G coverage. Unfortunately, this technology is unlikely to spread very far in Africa because it is designed mostly for people with high-speed adsl or cable Internet connectivity.

WiFi, however, is another possibility. WiFi is nearly ubiquitous on the recent generations of smartphones. WiFi networks can offer complementary access for mobile users. Technically, this is already true. You can connect to a WiFi network with your smartphone in cafes and airports although authentication can be a pain and Skype over mobile IP is a pretty variable experience, from blocked to patchy to hey I remember it worked once somewhere.

So what would it take to have a seamless mobile / WiFi experience where you didn’t actually have to pay attention to what kind of wireless network you were on? Well, as William Gibson says, the future is already here, it’s just unevenly distributed. In the middle of 2009, Cherry Mobile, a Mobile Virtual Network Operator (MVNO) in Belgium, launched a converged mobile phone service which didn’t care whether your phone was connected via WiFi or GSM. In fact, the phone would work without a SIM card as long as there was a WiFi network. (Wouldn’t that just drive the RICA folk mad). The downside is that this is a custom app that only runs on new generation Symbian phones. Still pretty amazing though.

Will networks like Cherry make a difference in Africa? Maybe but not as they currently exist I think as the solution is not generic enough. Happily, the IEEE have been hard at work developing standards for making devices work over heterogeneous networks. An excellent article by one of the smartest people thinking about the future of the Internet, Bill St. Arnaud, highlighted two emerging standards:

802.21 – The 802.21 working group is developing standards to enable handover and interoperability between heterogeneous network types including both 802 and non-802 networks. This means that an 802.21 compliant device would be able to detect all available networks that it supports e.g. GSM + WiFi and would make the transition from one kind of network to another seamless.
802.11u – 802.11u is an emerging standard for internetwork roaming and authentication. This would enable not previously authorised roaming on networks within a structured authentication and services framework.

If network and handset manufacturers start manufacturing devices compliant with these standards, things could get interesting. While the obvious impact of these standards could be to reduce bandwidth demand on mobile networks, a secondary but possibly more significant impact would be to increase competition in mobile markets. It would potentially allow for the development of bottom-up WiFi-based telephone infrastructure that could extend mobile networks or even provide alternatives.

Broadcom buys 4G chipmaker for $316m

Broadcom said on lastweek it will acquire Beceem Communications, which provides 4G chips that support both Long-Term Evolution and WiMax.


The $316m (£197m) deal comes as a bevy of chipmakers aim to set themselves up for 4G networks. Intel chief executive Paul Otellini said on Tuesday that the company is working to add 3G and ultimately Long-Term Evolution (LTE) to its Atom chips.

Beceem delivered the first chip to support both LTE and WiMax networks, and the technology can enable downloads of up to 200Mbps. In the US, Beceem's platform powers Clearwire's WiMax network. Broadcom's plan is to combine its 3G, wireless networking and other products with Beceem's 4G.

UK 4G spectrum auction will be held mid-2011

Auctioning spectrum in the 800MHz and 2.6GHz bands would allow mobile operators to roll out much faster mobile broadband services than the 3G services currently available, with speeds going up to 100Mbps or roughy double that of HSPA+, the most advanced version of 3G. The 4G spectrum auction was originally scheduled for 2008.

In an answer given last Thursday to a parliamentary question, under-secretary of state Ed Vaizey — who works across the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS) and the Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) — said the government hoped to make an announcement about the future of mobile broadband internet by the end of the summer recess. This was apparently a mistake.

A BIS spokesperson told ZDNet UK on Monday that Vaizey had meant to refer to the start of the summer recess — which begins on 29 July — rather than the end, adding that the announcement would be that of the laying down of a statutory instrument (SI) "setting out the decision on the future of spectrum modernisation". The actual auction will probably take place "around a year from now", the spokesperson said.According to industry sources, Vaizey is unlikely to lay down a new SI, but will rather pick up an existing SI that was laid down by the Labour government before the May general election. That piece of secondary legislation would make it possible for operators that hold 2G/GSM spectrum in the 900MHz and 1800MHz bands to 'refarm' that spectrum for 3G services — currently only allowed in the 2.1GHz band.

The spectrum that will go up for auction is a 72MHz wide slice in the 800MHz band — currently used for analogue services, but due to be freed up in the digital TV switchover — and a 190MHz wide slice in 2.6GHz band. Services that could be run in these bands include the long-term evolution (LTE) of 3G and WiMax, although the former technology has gained much more operator backing in Europe than the latter.

Operators such as O2 and T-Mobile have argued that they cannot value the 800MHz and 2.6GHz spectrum for bidding until they know whether they can refarm their 2G spectrum for 3G services. Different operators hold differing amounts of 900MHz and 1800MHz spectrum, making it trickier for Ofcom and the government to establish a fair system for spectrum refarming that will not overly benefit one operator over another.

Korea to get 5G network

3G-capable cellular networks are simply handy these days, which let us always stay connected to the Internet, especially handy while WiFi hotspots are hard to reach. When I’m traveling, I always depend on the 3G Internet connection, which I get a USB HSDPA modem hooked up to my laptop, to keep this blog frequently updated. Besides, 3G of course is handy to let you stream various medias from the Internet onto your cellphones in comfortable speeds.

The speed of 3G Internet connection still remains in the range of 3.6Mbps to 7.2Mbps (Some variations could go higher, such as 14.4Mbps or 28.8Mbps). Some more they’re deemed as burstable bandwidth, which some times you will still feel the slowness when it gets congested. So, I’ll always wish for higher G (generation) to come soon, which provides much higher speed of Internet connection.

We’ve learned that the next higher G will be the 4G. But it seems like the 4G takes a couple of years to come true, as it involves a major change of hardware across the countries as well as a bunch of new phones. 4G is definitely what we dream for, which will be a fully IP-based integrated system, that delivers the Internet speeds between 100 Mbps and 1 Gbps speeds both indoors and outdoors. But don’t expect the super high-speed 4G to come pretty soon, it’ll need at least 3-4 years, which is planned to release in European countries in 2012 – 2015.

But, now the Korean seem to be more aggressive than others. They’re taking a big leap, which they’ve planed for 5G – the 5th generation in year 2012. Korea and Japan are the two countries that have been known for long to be aggressive in various hi-def media streaming and online gaming. They definitely need much higher bandwidth to deliver what their people need. At this stage, it’s still too early, and what 5G is to promise. About the speed and the services are still unknown, but should be much higher than the 3G and 4G. Just hope that they could get it out as planned, and have the 5G technology spread to other countries too. So, we all could enjoy the super high-speed 5G network. By that time, WiFi and WiMax would most probably have diminished in this world!

Qubee Launched Wimax in Bangladesh

It was a historic moment indeed for Internet technology in Bangladesh. Just 3 hours ago, Augere Wireless Broadband Bangladesh Ltd started its Wimax sercie in Bangladesh by introducing Qubee Wimad service. At the same time, the company has also inaugurated Qubee ‘flagship store’ in Gulshan, Dhaka. I got the invitation to attend the program but I was some sick and could not go there. However, I sent my photographer Abdul Aziz Liton and he recorded the entire ceremony and also took the pictures and did some video. There was a press release in Bangla and I have translated it in English that you can find a little later in this entry. Qubee will launch its new WiMAX service, for both commercial and residential users, in Dhaka at the beginning of October. From there it plans to rapidly build-out its network and extend its services into the other major population areas -- and eventually across the country.

Qubee will launch its new WiMAX service, for both commercial and residential users, in Dhaka at the beginning of October. From there it plans to rapidly build-out its network and extend its services into the other major population areas -- and eventually across the country.

Qubee’s WiMAX (News - Alert)-based broadband service is already available in Pakistan and is set to launch in Bangladesh at the beginning of October.

The company has reportedly been working with consultants and local telecoms experts to identify the requirements for customer support. It reportedly selected Interactive Intelligence’s contact center platform because it is entirely software-based and is modular in architecture, so can be scaled to match requirements as Qubee grows in the region.

It also didn’t hurt that Interactive Intelligence already has some installations in the region and is therefore able to provide support.

"The existing users of Interactive Intelligence in Bangladesh showed me how well the system works, and we have had excellent continuing response from the whole company," said Anna Jordan, Qubee director of marketing, in a press release. "They have proved to be very reactive and very good at delivering to our tight timescales."

Qubee is also reportedly using Interactive Intelligence’s training services to train new agents on how to use, expand and support the system.

The new contact center will deliver customer service in two languages, Bangla and English.

"Markets like Bangladesh are currently limited by slow, unreliable and expensive internet connections," Jordan explained. "But there is a very hungry customer base. We need to make our customers feel supported and secure in using our services.”

Wateen launched WiMax in Pakistan

Good news for those in Pakistan hungry for another link to the 'net: Wateen Telecom has officially launched its WiMAX / HFC services for the consumer market. Reportedly, Motorola played a huge role in deploying the "first 802.16e commercial WiMAX network in Pakistan," and according to Wateen, it's the largest WiMAX network "ever installed."

In case you hadn't already guessed, Wateen Telecom is indeed a Abu Dhabi venture, and the service will initially be made available in 22 cities. For more details on exact coverage and rate plans, be sure and check out Wateen's website.

Wateen Telecoms launched its WiMax operations in Lahore. Last week we invited Wateen’s technical team to install its wiMax in our office at STC (Siddique Trade Center) Gulberg III Lahore. After spending few hours with the CPE device they informed us that “signal for WiMax are very week in the office premises, so we are unable to install WiMax”.

I think wateen is the one of the first and major player in WiMax operation in Pakistan and they have been testing the WiMax services in different areas of Pakistan since late 2006. We didn’t expect this situation from wateen’s installation engineers. STC is is situated in Gulberg III which is the most important place for IT companies. Most of the offices in STC are software houses. If they cannot provide wimax in Gulberg III, then there’s not point for launching the WiMax operations?

More important thing about wateen’s wimax are their prices. They are providing 128Kbps for just Rs.400 per month but their CPE (Wimax Device) is very very costly. Its about Rs. 23,500 for home and corporate clients, which is a huge amount for home users.

Every package for home users is shared between 16 home users and every corporate package is shared by 3 corporate users. First of all no one will spend 23K for their CPE, if someone do; he will get 8Kbps (from 128Kbps shared) download speed (supposing all 16 users are using bandwidth)

3G Rally starts with Tata Docomo in India

The Services that the Indian telecom industry has been waiting for with bated breath are round the corner. News of telecom operators announcing the timeline for launching 3G services has been coming thick and fast over the past few days.

Although the two public sector telecom operators BSNL and MTNL already offer 3G services, they have so far clearly failed to generate interest among their as well as other mobile subscribers. The scenario is expected to change for good when private players enter the 3G arena.

In the 3G auction held this year in May, seven of the nine bidders won spectrum. Bharti Airtel, Reliance Communications and Aircel each won in 13 of the 22 circles, while other operators such as Vodafone Essar, Idea Cellular and Tata won licences for nine, eleven and nine circles, respectively. A fairly new entrant, Haryana-based S Tel, won the license for three circles while two bidders, Videocon Mobile Services and UAE-based Etisalat went empty handed.

Early launch of 3G services will give service providers an edge over their competitors amidst falling tariffs and the introduction of mobile number portability which might be a reality soon.

TTSL, with its announcement of launching 3G services this Diwali, has yet again taken the lead and will be the first private telecom operator to roll out 3G services on a commercial basis.

The company announced that it will launch next generation mobile services (3G) on the day of Diwali next month in all the nine circles that it has won spectrum in, and will provide the new service to subscribers of Tata Docomo, its GSM network.

Next in line will be Airtel, the largest telecom operator in the country, based on subscriber numbers. The operator had earlier said it would launch the services by the end of this year.

Meanwhile, two of the seven operators, Vodafone and Aircel, will commercially launch their 3G services in the first quarter of 2011.

In fact, Vodafone on Thursday demonstrated its 3G services for customers in India. Marten Pieters, managing director, Vodafone Essar, recently made the company's first 3G video call from Mumbai to Delhi.

Before Vodafone, Reliance Communications showed the world its 3G network at the company's annual general meeting with a private news channel being streamed live to a mobile phone.

Although Reliance has not divulged an exact date, the company has made it clear that it wants to be amongst the early launchers of the service. "We are not going to wait for other operators' launch and then position ourselves.... ours will be among the early launches and it will be very soon," the company's chief executive Akshay Kumar had told reporters earlier.

As far as Idea Cellular is concerned, the company refused to comment on the date of launch. In May, however, media reports suggested that it plans to launch its 3G service in the third quarter of the ongoing fiscal.

The youngest telecom operator to have bagged 3G licenses S Tel too has remained tight lipped about the launch of its service. However, the company has revealed that it plans to invest approximately Rs 360 crores in capital expenditure over the next five years to roll out 3G services in the three circles it has spectrum in, namely Bihar and Jharkhand, Orissa, and Himachal Pradesh.

BSNL 3G Tariff will change according to Market Competition

State-owned Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd (BSNL) which is planning to expand its third generation (3G) services to 120 more cities across the country by December might change its 3G tariff.

Gopal Das, BSNL chairman and managing director, said to Telecom Yatra, "Our 3G tariff is will change depending upon the market dynamics and volume."

He added, " Initially we had come with a 3G tariff plan so that people start getting used to our 3G services and now when most of the private players will start offering the services we may have relook at it."

BSNL, which got the first movers advantage as it bagged 3G airwaves ahead of the private players has only, 1.8 million of its subscribers who use 3G services as of now.

BSNL charges its 3G customers 30 paise per minute for video calls. Apart from that, BSNL also offers data usage at a rate of 1 paisa per 10 Kilobytes (Kb).

The telco has also taken several steps such as improving 3G coverage and launching more value added services to enhance the 3G experience.

Most of the private players, except Tata Docomo, who had bagged 3G spectrum in the recently held auction plans to launch the service by the end of the year. Tata Docomo has already launched 3G in the country from Diwali.

NSN gears up for 4G mobile telephony using BWA spectrum-2010

After bagging deals from leading telecom operators to implement 3G services in India, equipment vendor Nokia Siemens Networks (NSN) has said it is ready to implement the next generation mobile technology here through the broadband wireless access spectrum.

NSN has tested LTE (TD-LTE), or the fourth generation (4G) mobile technology, using broadband wireless access (BWA) spectrum in India, the company said in a statement.

Industry observers say that as TD-LTE moves closer to commercial availability, it is likely to spoil the case for rival WiMax technology, which also uses BWA spectrum.

During the test, NSN demonstrated high-definition video streaming and three-way video conferencing.

"This is an important milestone in building the TD-LTE ecosystem in India," said Urs Pennanen, NSN's head of India region.

"TD-LTE over the BWA spectrum is important for the country, as it will allow operators to offer voice and data to the masses. We are ready to collaborate with partners to accelerate our progress toward a comprehensive deployment of TD-LTE in India."

WiMax will make a huge impact on Indian broadband markets

New Delhi witnessed a host of glitterati from the telecom world as the major telecom operators and global WiMax technology providers along with policy makers, congregated at the seventh WiMAX India 2010.

Organized by Bharat Exhibitions, the event focused on the delivery of next generation broadband services using WiMax. 'Create whatever you want to do as you move around using the latest advancements in WiMAX' was the theme of the event as current developments in WiMax technologies offer mobile personal broadband users create whatever they want on a variety of devices from the laptop to cell phones.
Making a huge difference to the user experience, the WiMAX 2010, saw the display of tiny modems that

could transform laptops, cell phones and other knowledge devices to wireless mode.

With a sharp business focus the event was an ideal platform for discussing crucial issues of standards and interoperability, spectrum and licensing, network optimization and frequency planning, business models, lessons learnt from large-scale WiMax deployments, business opportunities and threats. Using WiMax as a means of delivering broadband services to the bush, how WiMax can complement other telecommunication offerings, costs and financing, and strategies for capturing the mobile market also became the core areas of discussions.

PJ Thomas then, secretary, Department of Telecom, and chairman, Telecom Commission, inaugurating the conference referred to the government program of connecting all the 6,00,000 villages in a bid to reach out to rural people.

Among the telecom operators and service providers-Packet One Networks from Malaysia, Airtel, BSNL, MTNL, Aircel, Reliance, Vodafone, Idea, MTS, Tata DOCOMO, Tata Teleservices, Uninor, S-Tel also became a part of the event.
The conference offered the best business platform in the country for telecom Industry to conduct business and introduce WiMax service offerings. A recent study sees India's WiMax subscriber base hitting 19 mn by 2012 and grow annually at nearly 130%. This means that in the next four years about 20% of the global WiMax users will be in India, making it a $13 bn market.
Representing a prefect market for wireless broadband technology in India, the WiMAX India 2010 emerged as the perfect answer to Internet related problems.

Though, India is being touted to become the third largest economy, the ground realities, however, seem to be singing a different tune all together. The country has not seen the deployment of wireline, cable, and wireless technologies like GSM, Edge, CDMA1X, EVDO and 3G, etc. WiMax is poised to deliver high speed wireless broadband at lower costs that will aide mass adoption and thus alleviate problems faced by India's broadband market.The international conference, therefore, focused on the delivery of next generation broadband services using WiMax, based on the open standard IEEE 802.16.

RELIANCE proposes entry into 4G, excites LTE equipment industry

Mukesh Ambani controlled Reliance Industries' proposed entry into TD-LTE/4G-through the BWA spectrum auction-is set to excite the LTE equipment industry in India.Known for predatory pricing, the Ambanis will be looking at cost-effective rollouts across the country. This will put pressure on equipment vendors' pricing strategy.

Given the fact, that Reliance has been foremost in the country in coming up with predatory prices in terms of calling rates, handset rates at a time when tariff wars were unheard of in the country. The current market, which is ripe with opportunities, is also throwing many surprises, and might offer much with RIL entering with full enthusiasm into the telecom space.

Major equipment vendors such as Ericsson, Nokia Siemens Networks, Alcatel-Lucent, ZTE, Huawei, etc-duly supported by chip makers such as Qualcomm and ST-Ericsson-are already committed to developing LTE ecosystem for service providers and end users in India. Qualcomm and ST-Ericsson are already working on technologies that will allow consumers get access to 3G, GSM and LTE services using a single chipset.

Reliance is keen to share infrastructure with other players. BSNL and Reliance Communications could become potential partners. Infrastructure sharing will help in reducing capex.Considering the pan-India presence, the broadband mission of RIL will help in improving the broadband penetration in the country. RIL will be the only pan-India company to offer broadband services in all twenty-two circles. Aiming at acquiring at 100 mn customers within five years of its launch, the company is now focusing on ushering a broadband revolution in the country.

The company will be focusing on offering diverse data services and rich content. Commenting on the initiative, Mukesh Ambani, CMD, RIL said, "We see this as the next wave of value creation opportunity in the wireless broadband space. We believe this will pole vault India's economy into the digital world at an accelerated pace while creating next generation tools that will enhance productivity and create world-class consumer experience."

RIL will be deploying 15,000 base stations at a cost of $1.5 bn over the next three years. The auction for broadband licenses comes less than a month after a much larger auction for crucial 3G spectrum, which operators need to improve and roll out data intensive services to India's 600 mn cell phone users.The government is set to earn about Rs 39,000 crore from the auction of broadband wireless, which recently ended.

Aircel launches WiMax in Chennai-Tamilnadu

Aircel Business Solutions, a part of mobile-service provider Aircel, has announced the launch of wireless Internet services through Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access (WiMax) technology, which enables 'last mile' connectivity using 'near line of site' (NLOS) wireless equipment.

With this launch, ABS becomes the first company in India to launch WiMax and one among the five global operators to achieve this feat.

Launching the service, Ram Shinde, senior vice president, Aircel Business Solutions, said: “Initially, ABS aims to make Chennai 'wire-free' using WiMax technology enabling wireless Internet connectivity for SME, enterprise and residential use.”

He said that ABS was positive about the commercial viability and acceptance of WiMax across varied user profiles and geographies considering the substantial growth rate of Internet subscribers in recent time.

“As of now, ABS would be offering WiMax based on 802.16d standards and the forthcoming 802.16e standard will be even capable of mobile Internet,” he said adding that the company is geared to provide coverage to 90 per cent across commercial areas in Chennai.

Shinde informed that the company has invested close to $1 billion in setting-up the infrastructure for WiMax and would invest another $2 billion in current fiscal.

“After Chennai, we would be rolling-out our WiMax services to another 44 cities in three phases over the next six-months,” he added.

LTE gearing up to cash in on India opportunity

LTE ecosystem is projecting readiness lest operators choose rival WiMax. There is a sense of urgency in the LTE camp with Infotel reportedly looking to roll out WiMax.

The major argument in favour of WiMax, apparently, is that it is ready in terms of network equipment and end user devices, and operators seem convinced by this.

To counter this Ericsson has announced its readiness to roll out its LTE network as soon as operators decide their launch plan. P Balaji, Ericsson’s vice president for marketing and strategy in India, said to Telecom Yatra, "Ericsson is ready with the technology and equipment. We can implement as soon as operators decide to roll out the network.”

Qualcomm went to the extent of bidding for TD LTE spectrum in India, and is now in a hurry to implement it. It announced its local partner in the venture and has already applied for FIPB and an internet service provider’s licence.

It also announced plans to do trials by the first quarter of 2011 to prove LTEs mobility and compatibility. These trials are aimed at convincing operators of two things: One, LTE will provide full mobility, and two, that it will work with 2G and 3G devices.

Demonstrating compatibility with 3G devices is basically aimed at thwarting the WiMax camp’s claims that the LTE equipment is not ready. Qualcomm president, India and South Asia, Kanwalinder Singh, said, "There is no dearth of devices for LTE as it works with 3G and 3G+ devices which are already available in the Indian market and that too at reasonable prices.”

He added, "We are working with the industry to bring down the price points further."

The WiMax camp on the other hand is busy showcasing its strengths to the industry. These include lower rollout cost and device readiness. It also claims that full mobility is already available.

Although the Indian market is very important for both the camps, for WiMax it seems to be more important after the set backs it has received with Sprint in the USA and Yota in Russia.

RIL Infotel 4G services not before mid of 2011

Reliance Infotel Limited, which won pan India BWA spectrum in the recently concluded auctions, will launch services only by the middle of next year.

A senior official of the company told Telecom Yatra that, being a green field operator, the company will need that much time to put all the systems in place

He also said that Infotel is talking to all the tower companies to share infrastructure, and added that it will not be feasible for it to roll out towers on its own and that therefore, infrastructure sharing will be the way to go.

On the technology front, he said the company will adopt a technology that is emerging as a global standard, as migrating to the other technology is a very cost intensive preposition.

There are two fourth generation wireless broadband technologies – WiMax and TD-LTE. Of the two, WiMax is said to be in a greater state of readiness for rollout, while TD-LTE's advantage is that it is backward compliant.

Mukesh Ambani controlled Reliance Industries bought 95 per cent stake in Infotel soon after it won pan India 4G spectrum.

Being the only pan India spectrum owner, Infotel's decision regarding the technology is very crucial in deciding the fate of LTE and WiMax technologies in the country, and will have a big impact elsewhere as well.

Aviat Networks Selects Aptilo to Enable BSNL WiMAX Deployments in India

Aptilo Networks, the global leader in integrated solutions for control of billing, user services and access in wireless networks including WiMAX(TM) and Wi-Fi, and Aviat Networks, Inc, a leading wireless expert in advanced IP network migration, announced today that Aviat Networks has selected Aptilo's award-winning WiMAX solutions to enable their installation with Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd (BSNL), India's National telecom backbone and state-owned telecom operator.

This is the first announced project in a strategic partnership between Aviat Networks and Aptilo. Aviat Networks has selected Aptilo as the preferred WiMAX AAA and service control vendor for its BSNL WiMAX deployments.

Aviat Network's deployment with BSNL is the first commercial, urban mobile WiMAX 16e network in India, starting in the state of Kerala with a population of more than 35 million people in an area of 38,000 square kilometers. This mobile WiMAX rollout by BSNL will represent one of the largest deployments of this technology in the world and is expected to provide wireless broadband connectivity with speeds up to 7 Mbps.

Aviat Networks is using the Aptilo WiMAX AAA+ Server(TM) together with the new Aptilo WiMAX Connector(TM) functionality, a plug-and-play solution that allows operators to deploy WiMAX while utilizing existing broadband OSS/BSS infrastructure that does not natively handle WiMAX.

The Aptilo WiMAX Connector dynamically maps the subscriber services described in the existing OSS/BSS into WiMAX 16e service flows required by the ASN gateway. It also allows BSNL to use their existing subscriber sign-up, provisioning, billing and other processes with the new WiMAX service, minimizing capital/operating expenses on new processes, training staff, and maintaining and operating new OSS/BSS equipment.

"Aptilo's solution helped us preserve BSNL's previous infrastructure investments by seamlessly integrating with our Wireless Services Gateway (WSG) and WiMAX CSN elements, thereby allowing us to roll out a full mobile WiMAX solution quickly and efficiently," said Raj Kumar, Vice President, Asia-Pac Sales and Service, Aviat Networks. "From our experience, Aptilo's innovative solutions help operators build business in today's changing telecommunications landscape."

Fast Time-to-Market, Time-to-Revenue The Aptilo WiMAX Connector provides operators with a simplified installation, for fast time-to-market and time-to-revenue. For BSNL, the WiMAX network in Kerala was the last installed yet the first to launch commercially -- this is due to the flexibility in the Aptilo WiMAX AAA+ Server and the WiMAX Connector's less intrusive integration with 3rd party vendors.

Additionally, BSNL can now use the same solution from Aviat Networks and Aptilo to expand to new WiMAX markets.

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WiMax to be commercially launched in four months in India

WiMax forum has announced that it has been able to convince all the service providers for WiMax trials. The first commercial launch has been scheduled to take place around Diwali. WiMax Forum earlier announced trials are been carried by all spectrum winners except one.

CS Rao, chairman, WiMax Forum, India, said, “We have touched base with all the operators and all the operators understand that WiMax is the only technology that is ready for being deployed, and that our competition is at least one year away from deployment stage. Even operator, which was quoted by media as supporting the rival technology (read Mukesh Ambani-owned Infotel broadband,) is going for a trial of WiMax and we are very optimistic of a win there”.

He said that WiMax answers all the questions from operators, as it is a mature technology, with a mature ecosystem which can deliver equipment right now, and has a clear development path.

There have been reports of Infotel, the only pan India winner of broadband wireless access spectrum is opting for TD LTE, however, after yesterday’s press conference of the Wimax Forum, it seems that the company has not yet made up its mind.

If Infotel opts for WiMax, it will be a big gain for the WiMax lobby, as Infotel is the only pan India player, other winners are expected to follow its footsteps or else risk being trapped in technological islands.

Hinting at the first commercial launch of WiMax in India, Santhanam Gopalkrishnan, head, India operations, Alvarion, said, “Expect a Diwali dhamaka this year”. He said that all the operators are either deploying, or at least testing WiMax without any exception”. Alvarion is a global provider of 4G and WiMax solution..