Time for WiMAX - Oppertunities by country

While 3G auction in India takes it’s own sweet time, WiMAX is setting a strong foothold (a report suggests that WiMAX subscribers in India will outnumber 3G subscribers.

As per Infonetics report, India is the most ripe market for WiMAX with VoIP playing a key role in adoption. Few interesting insights from the report:

• India is the largest single-country WiMAX opportunity in the world, with most of the major operators actively pursuing WiMAX (BSNL, Tata, Bharti Airtel, etc); deployments are well-underway with acceleration in adoption experienced in many telecoms circles
• Russia is the ‘perfect storm’ for WiMAX: challenging geography, dispersed population, pent up demand for broadband and voice services, and a population able to pay for services; there are currently more than 10 WiMAX networks in operation or deployment in Russia
• Brazil is potentially one of the world’s most dynamic WiMAX markets, with a very mobile-oriented populace; The number of WiMAX subscribers is forecast to skyrocket from 184,000 in 2008 to almost 8 million in 2013
• Most countries in Central and Eastern Europe have WiMAX deployments underway and more than 20 operators offer VoIP over WiMAX service, a major driver of adoption
• There are over 80 networks now active in over 35 African countries, with demand for broadband and voice services driving deployment, despite challenges in terms of funding and low-ARPU business models
• Though the current market is very modest, if China’s 3G technology TD-SCDMA fails to ignite the market, a softening of the regulatory attitude to WiMAX could follow, leading to much more extensive WiMAX market growth
• In Japan, mobile WiMAX adoption is growing, with a battle brewing between operator UQ’s mobile WiMAX network (in partnership with KDDi) and NTT DoCoMo’s LTE rollout
  

The major hurdle for WiMAX/BWA penetration in India is lack of PC penetration, but even then it has a higher probability of success, as opposed to 3G, which has turned out to be an utopian dream.

will WiMAX Rule india in 2014?? WiMAX Vs 3G

As per a report by ASSOCHAM, WiMAX broadband subscribers in India will outnumber 3G subscribers by 2014.

As per the report, there will be 20 million 3G-based broadband subscribers by 2014 as opposed to 60 million WiMax users.

The rationale behind these numbers is the availability of 20 MHz spectrum per operator and the expected lower price of WiMAX based devices (WiMAX data card is expected to be available for as little as $40, compared to $80 for 3G).

The report misses couple of points – for instance, lack of PC penetration that impacts the usage of BWA (Broadband Wireless Access).

ASSOCHAM, quite lately has been courting controversy over it’s reports and couple of industry leaders have slammed this report.

• Telecom Commission has also proposed to increase the base price for WiMax spectrum auction (base price which was at 25% of the reserve price for 3G, is to be increased to 50%)
• Operators interested to bid for WiMax spectrum will have to offer a minimum of Rs 1,010 crore for a pan-Indian licence compared to Rs 2,020 crore for 3G players.
• Tata Telecom, Reliance and BSNL are most prepared for WiMAX implementation.

Is US in back seat for adopt WiMAX?

WiMax appears to be a hit around the world--except for the U.S., according to deployment data released by the WiMax Forum Monday.

WiMax, also known as 4G, now is offered on networks covering 620 million people in 147 countries, said the WiMax forum. By the end of 2010, 800 million people will be covered with 1 billion by the end of 2011. The 2011 time frame is notable because that's when Long Term Evolution (LTE) networks, a WiMax rival technology, will begin to ramp.

The data, however, indicates that WiMax is a global effort, but lags in North America. For instance, Clearwire is the main champion of WiMax in the U.S. and largely responsible for the deployments. Clearwire has some big backers like Intel, Google and others and partners like Comcast and Sprint, but can't carry the load by itself.

The debate over 4G technologies has been going on for years. In the US, and much of Europe, it would seem that Long Term Evolution (LTE) has the upper hand and will likely be popular in that part of the world. In the United States, Clearwire has a large WiMAX network covering 69 markets.

However, just this week, the company began testing LTE signals. The company will likely make a shift in the next few years from WiMAX to LTE because this is the technology that the other wireless carriers are likely to adopt. Another seemingly large blow to WiMAX was when Cisco recently reported that they will be exiting the WiMAX market they entered back in 2007 with the acquisition of Navini Networks.

So this signals the death of WiMAX, right? Wrong.

First, let's look at Cisco's bowing out of the WiMAX radio, antenna and base station market. While this may seem like a big deal, Cisco never really was a big player in this market that has been and still is dominated by Cellular tower manufacturers such as Motorola and Qualcom.

It is my belief that Cisco made a half-hearted attempt to enter the market for the purpose of helping to kick-start the 4G revolution. Cisco wanted to get their foot in the door to begin conversations with wireless service providers such as Clearwire so they could sell not only WiMAX gear, but also routers and switches.

A brand new core network was required for Clearwire's rollout, which is Cisco's bread and butter. As it turned out, Cisco was so successful in it's pursuit that the WiMAX bait-and-switch tactic was no longer needed.

Now let's look at why LTE will be a more popular option in more developed countries such as the United States. Strictly from a technology standpoint, both WiMAX and LTE offer similar performance statistics both now and for the foreseeable future.

The real selling point that makes LTE more attractive in developed countries is that LTE is a simple "rip and replace" of a few existing 3G network components. These components can be quickly and fairly seamlessly upgraded with LTE components.

Thanks for the authors

BSNL's WiMAX roll out status

Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL) has deployed 827 base stations under Rural Phase 1 project and 741 base stations in Urban project using WiMax while MTNL franchise model has failed to attract bidder's interest.

Under Rural Phase1 project BSNL has set up 827 base stations covering 1000 Rural Block HQ of the country. Approximately 10279 number of rural common service centers (CSCs) and 14591 village panchayats have coverage through Rural Project.

The information was provided by Sachin Pilot, the Minister of State for Communications and Information Technology in a written reply to Rajya Sabha.

He further added that 741 base stations have been deployed under the Urban project provide WiMax services in the urban areas of Kerala, Punjab, Andhra Pradesh and Maharashtra.

While 348 base stations have been set up in Kerala, 335 base stations have been deployed in Punjab, 25 base stations in Andhra Pradesh and 33 base stations each in Maharashtra and Gujarat with franchises model of revenue sharing.

On the other hand, the other PSU, Mahanagar Telephone Nigam Limited (MTNL), had invited bids for WiMax on revenue sharing model. The bid however, failed to generate interest with Prithvi Info Solutions, a Hyderabad based software firm, as the sole bidder.

The two state owned telecom firms were assigned one block of 20 MHz spectrum for Broadband Wireless Access (BWA) in 2008, more than a year ahead of the private telcos.

Government auctioned 2 blocks of spectrum each of 20 MHz, for BWA to private companies in 2010. The auction has been completed and total revenue of Rs. 38543.31 crores has been generated through the auction of BWA spectrum and allotment of BWA spectrum to BSNL and MTNL.

Infotel broadband services won licenses in all the 22 circles, Aircel got seven circle, Tikona won five, Qualcomm and Bharti four each, and Augere emerged winner in one circle.

All successful bidders are required to meet the specified roll-out obligation for BWA spectrum within five years of the effective date.

source

DELHI Under BSNL WiMAX

State-owned telecom operator Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd (BSNL) all set to launch WiMAX the 4th Generation Wireless Broadband Service in the National Capital Region (NCR) with speed up to 7 Mbps to provide High Speed Super Fast wireless Internet connectivity in this area.

Union minister of state for communications and technology Sachin Pilot said that BSNL WiMax service will be launched by the end of this month at Dhankor and would be extended to the other parts of the NCR such as Bisrakh, Dadri, Jewar and Jahangirpuri in next financial year. Through this BSNL will usher in a new era of growth in Wireless Broadband. This technology offers broadband speed of 7 mbps at a distance of 15 kms.

BSNL WiMAX high speed wireless broadband connectivity aimed to provide video telephony, TV on mobile, video-conferencing, e-learning, tele-medicine service and tele-education, besides providing some other services through local administrative body also.

New BSNL 4G WiMAX Tariff details of kerala

The Kerala circle updated its wimax triff details and you can download the pdf format tariff
details from the below download link

BSNL WiMAX Tariff DOWNLOAD

BSNL Covered Thiruvanamthapuram dist.

Thiruvanamthapuram Area-BSNL WiMAX Coverage updated list
1	Airport
2	Attukal
3	Marappalam
4	Beemapally
5	Central Telephone Exchange
6	Chirayinkeezhu
7	Circle office PMG T/E
8	Edapazhanji
9	GK Junction NBSNL
10	Injakkal
11	Kaimanam T/E
12	Kaithamukku T/E
13	Kallambalam
14	Kaniyapuram
15	Kannanmoola
16	Kanykulangara
17	Karyavattom T/E
18	Kilimanoor
19	Kochuveli NBSNL
20	Konchiravila
21	Kowadyar-Golf link
22	Kunnumkuzi
23	Manakadu T/E
24	Manvila NBSNL
25	Medical college T/E
26	Nanthancode
27	Nedumangad
28	Neyyattinkara
29	Palode
30	Paruthipara T/E
31	Pazhavangadi(east fort)
32	Pongumoodu M/W
33	Poojappura T/E
34	Poovar
35	Parassala
36	Pettah
37	Technopark NBSNL
38	Thampanoor-2
39	Thycadu
40	Varkala
41	Vattiyoorkavu T/E
42	Vellayambalam T/E
43	Venjaramoodu
44	Venpalavattom
45	Vizhinjam
46	Nemom

Nagaland under BSNL WiMAX

BSNL launches WIMAX in Nagaland

BSNL is truly a Pan-Indian mobile operator in terms of speed of spreading the latest technology in every corner of the nation. After the successful launch of 3G internet connectivity all over, BSNL has switched its focus on WIMAX (next generation in high speed internet link).As per the latest news state operated BSNL is all set to launches the WIMAX in Nagaland.

“WIMAX (Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access) - the fourth generation of high speed fully mobile internet access has reached Nagaland” Chief General Manager of the BSNL North East Circle II Mr. R Sanyal said “It is targeted to be launched by October. Under OSO scheme of the government of India ‘WIMAX’ would cover 110 CSCs or Customer Service Centres in phase-I”.

He also said that BSNL has already installed and commissioned ‘WIMAX’ towers at fourteen towns in Nagaland. Nine more towers are under construction in many towns.