Two forces that are driving Internet are broadband and wireless. Bringing these two forces in a single package is the promise of Wi-Max (Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access). Wi-Max delivers high-speed broadband Internet access over a wireless connection. It is an effective solution for the 'last mile' problem. For a country like India with diverse geographies, WiMax spells a boon for the growth of information technology (IT) beyond few cities.

Based on the IEEE 802.16 Air Interface Standard, Wi-Max delivers a point-to-multipoint architecture, making it an ideal method for carriers to deliver broadband to locations where wired connections would be difficult or costly. It also provides a useful solution for delivering broadband to rural areas where high-speed lines have not yet become available. A Wi-Max connection can also be bridged or routed to a standard wired or wireless Local Area Network (LAN).

The so-called 'last mile' of broadband is the most expensive and most difficult for broadband providers, and Wi-Max provides an easy solution. Although it is a wireless technology, unlike some other wireless technologies, it doesn't require a direct line of sight between the source and endpoint, and it has a service range of 50 km. It provides a shared data rate of up to 70Mbps, which is enough to service up to a thousand homes with high-speed access.

Ready for deployment
Wi-Max is the trade name for a group of wireless technologies that emerged from the IEEE 802.16 Wireless MAN (Metropolitan Area Network) family of standards. It is a standards-based wireless technology gaining rapid acceptance around the world. It is capable of delivering broadband Internet and extending services like Internet telephony throughout India without major disruption to transportation and other services.

Although the term Wi-Max is only a few years old, 802.16 have been around since the late 1990s, first with the adoption of the 802.16 standard (10-66GHz) and then with 802.16a (2-11GHz) in January 2003.

Wi-Max fixed (static) version, 802.16d-2004 (also called Rev.d), was ratified by IEEE and is in the early stages of deployment now. Whereas Wi-Max802.16e-2005, the universal Wi-Max version was ratified in December 2005 by IEEE (IEEE 802.16e-2005, also called as Rev.e) and is expected to see first deployments in Q3 2006 with mass market ramp up in 2007 and 2008.

Technology aspects
Wi-Max is an Internet Protocol (IP) based standard developed by the IEEE body for IP-based data applications, also embedding native VoIP that leverages Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplex (OFDM), a physical layer transmission technique increasingly used for many advanced broadcast, mobile and wireless access systems.

Wi-Max supports different simultaneous application classes: interactive gaming, VoIP and video conferencing, real-time streaming media, web browsing, instant messaging and media content download. Each of these classes leverages different performance levels with regards to bandwidth, latency and jitter. Wi-Max 802.16e-2005 will use a TDD mode, which will be favorable to asymmetric services.

WiMAX comes in different variants and present-day deployments leverage 802.16d. However, all industry heavyweights are now gearing up for Wi-Max802.16e-2005. From chipset manufacturers to terminal vendors and network suppliers, all recent moves point to Wi-Max802.16e-2005 as the potential mass market standard, as exemplified by Intel and Motorola pan-Asian initiatives.

Be it for mobile, fixed or new disruptive operators, Wi-Max802.16e-2005 seems to be the best-suited candidate to ensure future-proof cost-effective deployment and rapid mass-market adoption thanks to fully interoperable end-user devices.

Market drivers
Broadband wireless access (BWA) can be a cost effective means for providing basic telecom services as well as high-speed Internet connections for the un-served (neither fixed nor mobile connection) people in the world today.

In an emerging market such as India for instance, where the authorities see the Internet as a public utility poised to positively impact education, health, employment as well as empowerment, broadband wireless technologies and WiMax in particular are considered major enablers that will make this strong vision a reality.

According to Alcatel in India, this segment would represent between 25 and 35 percent of the total cumulative broadband wireless access market opportunity, serving up to an estimated 25 million subscribers by 2010.

For the developed and developing markets, this segment targets users outside their home or office environment using either a laptop or a PDA. But this time they benefit from continuous area radio coverage, eg, everywhere in the city with full mobility in a cellular RAN architecture.

The key technological mass-market success factor here would be Wi-Max 802.16e-2005 support by PCMCIA card for laptop users, Customer Premise Equipment (CPE) for PC users and by chipset manufacturers for integrating the technology in handheld devices directly.

This segment is expected to account for half of the BWA market opportunity ie 45-55 percent with an estimated 40 million subscribers by 2010.

Efforts in India
While almost all the telecom companies are keen on deploying this technology, it is Alcatel that has taken the lead in joining hands with the Indian government to propagate the deployment of Wi-Max in the country.

Considering the present market scenario in India, Alcatel has significantly moved towards the development of broadband wireless technologies specific to the Indian market requirements. Alcatel firmly believe that BWA would be the main driver for the future of telecom industry especially in developing nations like India.

In the same context a joint initiative along with the government of India enterprise, C-DoT has been taken and a joint venture has been formed that is focused on BWA technologies development to suit the Indian market conditions. The initial agenda of CARC (C-DoT Alcatel Research Center) is to work on Wi-Max 802.16e-2005 technologies particularly focusing on the development of low cost Customer Premise Equipment (CPE) design optimized for Indian market conditions. In addition to above CARC is also destined to develop a 700MHz solution based on Wi-Max 802.16e-2005 specifically for rural India.

At CARC a full-fledged lab is being setup, which would be used for technology demonstrations and also for research purpose.

Alcatel, is also in discussion at various levels with all the major service providers in India on Wi-Max 802.16e-2005 based services. It is also establishing field trials based on Wi-Max 802.16e-2005 in the country to demonstrate the key feature set of this technology. Basically the idea is to create a cellular RAN architecture in field and demonstrate full mobility and nomadicity for various data, voice and video applications thereby helping the technology gain maturity. And by the beginning of 2007 it should be ready for commercial rollouts.

To help accelerate the deployment of wireless broadband access, Intel is another player, which has played a leading role in both the Wi-Max forum and IEEE in accelerating the completion of conformance test specifications, PHY and MAC contributions, and mobility specifications. By 2006, Intel intends to integrate Wi-Max into mobile computers to support roaming between Wi-Max service areas.

Full throttle by 2008
According to industry estimates, full broadband mobility market is expected to be significant in the next five years and will start gathering momentum 2008 onwards. Until then, Wi-Max makes an ideal solution for creating wireless hot spots in places like airports, college campuses, and small communities as it can be used over relatively long distances.

NELSON JOHNY

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