Everything you need to know about WiMAX
WiMAX Forum in India comes face to face with the Reality of Mobility
New Delhi, Oct 15,2008
The WiMAX Forum Expo in India, organized by the WiMAX world Forum with Intel was an important event, if the new directions it has pointed out for the industry are any clue.
When the it predicted 19 million users in India by 2012 it did not in any way overestimated the potential of this market. In fact they have hit the nail on the head by basing it on the Mobile user growth of 8-9 million a month and the miniscule number of broadband subscribers at 4.5 million. The fact remains that mobility is the key to usage of services today. The fact that Mobile WiMAX provides much superior broadband usage capability than mobile networks is well known today. However it is the enabling factors such as Spectrum and Licensing for Mobile WiMAX which hold the key as brought out by the WiMAX forum.
The WiMAX Expo was held in the backdrop of a very successful launch of Sprint’s XOHM network in Baltimore in Sept 2008 with performance which equaled three times that on 3G networks. This is important for a country just going in for 3G auctions in Dec 2008 and puts the two technologies in the proper perspective. With 1 Mbps+ speeds on the uplink and 5 Mbps on the downlink, with mobility added, the technology today stands apart. This is more so in today’s video based applications.
The fact remains that if WiMAX technology is to break out of its eggshell, it will need to focus on two things: first the development of new generation mobile applications and second the integration with existing Mobile networks as over 300 million users in India alone can not be wished away. Towards this objective the application development Lab which is planned may hold the key.
Mobile WiMAX has to position itself as more than USB modems and Express cards which today operate on Mobile networks as well. It is the new mobile devies which hold the key.As do new applications which can operate on Mobile Phones in the 3G environment using IMS.
The target for the Mobile WiMAX should not therefore be looking at 4.5 broadband subscribers but at coexisting with the 300 Mobile handsets in use- a number which will exceed 500 million by 2012. Just 10 % penetration of this number with dual mode handsets is no less than 50 million users.
http://www.wimaxbook.net
The WiMAX Forum Expo in India, organized by the WiMAX world Forum with Intel was an important event, if the new directions it has pointed out for the industry are any clue.
When the it predicted 19 million users in India by 2012 it did not in any way overestimated the potential of this market. In fact they have hit the nail on the head by basing it on the Mobile user growth of 8-9 million a month and the miniscule number of broadband subscribers at 4.5 million. The fact remains that mobility is the key to usage of services today. The fact that Mobile WiMAX provides much superior broadband usage capability than mobile networks is well known today. However it is the enabling factors such as Spectrum and Licensing for Mobile WiMAX which hold the key as brought out by the WiMAX forum.
The WiMAX Expo was held in the backdrop of a very successful launch of Sprint’s XOHM network in Baltimore in Sept 2008 with performance which equaled three times that on 3G networks. This is important for a country just going in for 3G auctions in Dec 2008 and puts the two technologies in the proper perspective. With 1 Mbps+ speeds on the uplink and 5 Mbps on the downlink, with mobility added, the technology today stands apart. This is more so in today’s video based applications.
The fact remains that if WiMAX technology is to break out of its eggshell, it will need to focus on two things: first the development of new generation mobile applications and second the integration with existing Mobile networks as over 300 million users in India alone can not be wished away. Towards this objective the application development Lab which is planned may hold the key.
Mobile WiMAX has to position itself as more than USB modems and Express cards which today operate on Mobile networks as well. It is the new mobile devies which hold the key.As do new applications which can operate on Mobile Phones in the 3G environment using IMS.
The target for the Mobile WiMAX should not therefore be looking at 4.5 broadband subscribers but at coexisting with the 300 Mobile handsets in use- a number which will exceed 500 million by 2012. Just 10 % penetration of this number with dual mode handsets is no less than 50 million users.
http://www.wimaxbook.net
Comment
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Comment by Alan J Weissberger on June 2, 2009 at 9:47am
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Tata joins WiMAX Forum board of directors:
Prateek Pashine, will represents Indian operator Tata on the WiMAX Forum Board. The appointment of Pashine emphasizes the huge role that the subcontinent is expected to play in the WiMAX industry, once its own spectrum licenses are auctioned, and also as companies like Tata look to expand in other parts of the world using new technologies.
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Comment by Amitabh Kumar on October 27, 2008 at 5:46am -
I am not unfamiliar with such cynicism for the Indian Telecom ( or broadcast industries) having been in the field for the last 25 years. People laughed when mobile services were launched at Rs 16 per minute and incoming was also paid. That was way back in 1995-97. Today, with 300 million users it is the second largest and the fastest growing market in the world. We had another minister at that time, and yet another when the so called “ limited mobility” of CDMA was turned into a full fledged mobility.
Ministers are casual players on the stage where a much larger drama is taking place. It is about the growth, the moving wheels of the industry and the underlying need for such services. The Policy kinks will remain, but in a few months, the players will be moving ahead with 3G as well as Mobile WiMAX. India today provides software and process outsourcing to a majority of the United states, European Union and many other countries. The compelling need is a result of these actions which today add more than 9 million users in a month.
If we want to talk about Mobile WiMAX, 20 million users by 2012 is not even a tip of the iceberg. It is my prediction that once the Mobile WiMAX networks are available, the WiMAX connectivity will get integrated into the existing 2G and 3G networks using IMS. This will lead to much more than just 20 million devices getting enabled with WIMAX. Even if one talks of standalone devices, 20 million is just too small a number. In fact I was aghast to read a Gartner report earlier last year which pegged the numbers at just 11 million. ( see my blog on http://www.wimax-home.com).
Who will be the operators who will roll out these networks? Tata Communications, MTNL and RCOM will the first few, many others will follow. Do not worry about the players( such as ministers, regulators, committees etc.) who are enacting the play, worry about Shakespeare and you will know what scene is to follow. Player do not Change the scene.
Amitabh
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- Do native Indian people actually believe there will be a market for mobile WiMAX or 3G services, when the government can't get its act together for the spectrum auctions? After that happens it will take a lot of time to build the necessary infrastructure, e.g. base stations, cell towers, backhaul, etc that is necessary for an operational network/ commercial deployment. It might not happen till mid 2010, at which time Mr Raja- the IT Minister projected 10M subs. Whom do you believe: the market researchers, trade press, India IT minister or NO ONE? I go with the latter! Please see my blog post today on this site.
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Comment by Sandeep Sharma on October 21, 2008 at 2:39am - Nice capture of the event Sir, Were u there during this event? I was also there . Just missed the chance to meet u up....
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