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.

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..

Beceem and ICOMM Tele Enable BSNL's 4G-WiMAX

Beceem Communications, a leading provider of semiconductor solutions for 4G-WiMAX, and ICOMM Tele, a leading Indian Telecommunications Equipment Maker, announced that the recent launch of BSNL's WiMAX service in Kerala is using devices made by ICOMM that are based on Beceem's highperformance BCS5200 and BCSM250 chipsets.


The successful service launch highlights the close collaboration between Beceem and ICOMM Tele, during which both companies worked together closely to optimize their unique solution for BSNL and developed the foundation for an open device ecosystem.In launching BSNL's Kerala network, the largest planned Mobile WiMAX network in South India, ICOMM has enabled BSNL to take a strong leadership position in the wireless broadband service development, and play an important role in enabling this historic event.Beceem has made tremendous contributions to the overall WiMAX ecosystem development.

WiMAX 4G - Complete Analysis-PDF Document and Supporting Devices

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Latest Supporting Devices with Built in Functionality

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Download BSNL WiMAX Consumer Brochure

Consumer Brochure in PDF format
This Brochure is a USER GUIDE for using Soma Networks-BSNL WiMAX Wireless Broadband.
You can download the file from here: DOWNLOAD Brochure




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BSNL WiMAX Coverage Punjab Circle Updated List

BSNL installed 350 Wimax BTS towers in all districts HQ and major towns. including capital city Chandigarh. Besides, Distract Hqrs., some important towns are covered named
1.Panchkulaa
2. Zirakpur
3. Mandigobindgarh
4. Samana
5. Rajpura
6. Muktsar
7. Rampurphul
8.Kotkapura
9. Abohar
10. Batala
11. Gurdaspur
12. jagroan
13. Phagwara
14 Khanna etc for the WiMax services.

BSNL Launched 4G WiMAX in Punjab

BSNL Punjab Circle Launched 4G WiMAX Broadband
Indian telecom giant Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd (BSNL) launches WiMAX the 4th Generation Wireless Broadband Service in Punjab telecom circle with speed up to 7 Mbps(37mbps comming soon)

The CGM, Punjab telecom BSNL, Wimax services for urban areas launched by Mr.Pradeep Paliwal, . It is significant that Punjab BSNL has already providing WiMax services in some limited pockets of rural areas.To empowered all 20 Districts headquarter, urban areas/towns of Punjab with High Speed Super Fast Internet connectivity, Speaking on the launch of WiMAX services Mr.Pradeep Paliwal, Cheif General Manager, BSNL said that

"WiMax provides a super speed and reliable broadband service over wireless media. The minimum speed is 512 Kbps whereas the highest speed which can be taken from WiMax is 7 Mbps(37Mbps will be available soon). Each BTS tower has got around it a coverage area of 15 kms., where connections can be provided."


BSNL also offer Free trail of Wimax Broadband services for its prospective subscribers which is valid up to 15 April 2010.BSNL introduces a total of 7 tariff plans out of which 3 plans are for limited use and 4 plans are offered for unlimited use of broadband. Fixed monthly charges vary
from Rs.220 per month to Rs.750 per month for plans having limited use with regard to download/upload of data. Fixed monthly charges vary from Rs.999 to Rs.7,000 per month for plans having unlimited download or upload.(Mainly for Business).BSNL will continue to unroll WiMAX in India. It’s an important market to see how WiMAX is adopted by a tech savvy country. India has really tied itself to WiMAX but one wonders whether BSNL will consider the switch to LTE and follow a similar path to what Clearwire might do in the U.S.

Customer premises Wimax equipment can be taken from BSNL at rent of Rs. 50 per month or can be purchased after paying the charges.