WiMax: It's Here To Stay

First there was Wi-Fi. Now there's WiMax, which stands for Worldwide
Interoperability for Microwave Access. This technology allows laptop users to be
connected to a wireless, high-speed broadband connectivity with a radius of 10
miles.

Filling the gap between wireless LANs and wide area networks (WANs), WiMax-compliant
systems will provide a cost-effective fixed wireless alternative to conventional
wire-line DSL and cable in areas where those technologies are readily available.
What Wi-Fi did for the LAN, the longer-range WiMax could do for metropolitan
areas and last-mile access.

It will initially use the IEEE 802.16d specification and support connections
to fixed locations at typical speeds from 300K to 2M bit/sec, over a range of as
much as 30 miles. A later version, based on the 802.16e standard, is being
designed to support mobility.

The
WiMax Forum, an industry group working to promote 802.16 adoptions, plans to
begin certifying interoperable products by 2005. According to the forum, the
world's first WiMax Forum certified products would be available by year-end.

Potential of WiMax

A wireless Metropolitan Area Network (MAN) based on the WiMax air interface
standard is configured on the lines of a traditional cellular network with
strategically located base stations. The latter use a point-to-multipoint
architecture to deliver services over a radius up to several kilometers,
depending on the frequency, transmit power and receiver sensitivity.

Although WiMax has great potential, a key decision with regard to spectrum
choice is whether to use licensed or unlicensed spectrum. The use of licensed
spectrum has the obvious advantage of providing protection against interference
from other wireless operators. The disadvantage is dealing with the licensing
process. The use of unlicensed spectrum gives the wireless operator the
advantage of being able to deploy immediately but runs the risk of interference.

With a large number of countries tightly controlling the Wireless spectrum,
WiMax needs all the encouragement that the industry can provide to it. Two
primary bands are under consideration — the licensed 3.5GHz band, the
unlicensed UNII band (but licensed in India) 5.8 GHz bands of frequencies. Of
these the 3.5GHz seems to offer more promise, given the fact that the 5GHz
spectrum is fast approaching its limits in most technologies and countries where
such has been used.

Optimizing on existing technologies

Many technologies currently available for fixed broadband wireless can only
provide line of sight (LOS) coverage. However, the technology behind WiMax has
been optimized to provide both, excellent LOS and non-LOS coverage. WiMax's
advanced technology provides the best of both worlds — large coverage
distances of up to 50 kilometers under LOS conditions and typical cell radii of
up to 5-mile/8 km under NLOS conditions.

Sudir  Sarma

Although both LOS and NLOS coverage conditions are governed by the
propagation characteristics of their environment, path loss, and radio link
budget, NLOS technology helps reduces installation expenses by making
under-the-eaves CPE installation a reality and easing the difficulty of locating
adequate CPE mounting locations.

The technology also reduces the need for pre-installation site surveys and
improves the accuracy of NLOS planning tools. This forms the primary advantage
of WiMax over other forms of broadband wireless access. 

Viable market segments

WiMax if implemented offer great opportunities for various business segments.

Residential and SOHO: In many cities, there are pockets of residential
customers, who are often cut off from the world. The reach for these customers
may be provided with the help of WiMax. For instance, the e-choupal concept of
Indian Tobacco Company can be improved with the concept of Wi-MAX.

Rural villages: With a majority of India's population present in the
rural areas, there is a need to connect them to the knowledge base outside their
proximity. This could help them connect to the Internet to propel online
education, information dissemination and even banking.

The deployment of an exchange to provide analog connectivity would take years
and lots of money in terms of laying cables. With WiMax, ISP's can provide
point-to-point connectivity over large distances and with a huge bandwidth to
address the needs of this marker.

Mobile users: As WiMax provides constant access to the Internet using
large antennas (about the size of a laptop), mobile users can always be

connected within the radius of coverage.

Cellular backhaul: WiMax can play a major role in enabling mobile
operators to cost-effectively increase backhaul capacity using WiMax as an
overlay network. This will help them add the capacity required to support the
wide range of new mobile services that they offer, without the risk of
disrupting existing services.

Public safety services and private networks: Since WiMax offers
coverage in a metropolitan area, it can become a handy tool for law enforcement
agencies during medical emergencies. Public safety organizations can also
leverage on it to maintain critical communications during calamities or distress
situations.

Setting up a WiMax network

A business case for this technology includes core and edge networking
equipment in addition to WiMax-specific equipment. In any area-rural or urban-it
is desirable to install a sufficient number of base stations to cover an
addressable market large enough to recover the fixed infrastructure costs. When
expansion is being considered, WiMax capacity can be increased by simply adding
additional channels to all or to selected base stations as required.

Given the potential that WiMax provides, countries like the US have been
going for even pre-standard Wi-MAX. When I was interacting with one of my
customers about this technology, he said, "I can get WiMax for $500 per
month. This is a bit more than the cost of the SDSL service but much less than a
T-1 rate. And my office gets 1M bit/sec in each direction".

Even industry vendors are taking cognizance about this technology and its
benefits. Intel, for one, will soon integrate WiMax into its Centrino wireless
chip set along with Wi-Fi beginning in late 2006, with a wider rollout in 2007.

In a closely-guarded project telecom major Reliance Infocom and MNC chipmaker
Intel are said to have tested a technology to deliver entertainment on demand,
video on demand, IP telephony and broadband Internet access to home. In a
sparsely populated region of rural Rajasthan, Intel is reportedly conducting a
similar experiment along with NGO Drishti. WiMax has another big backer in Nokia,
which plans to launch WiMax-compatible phones by end-2005.

So if you want to be in the know, better get yourself acquainted with WiMax
and educate your customers about it. This way, when the WiMax spectrum is
unleashed and compatible products launched, you will have the first mover
advantage in it.

Sudhir Sarma is MD, Network Solutions Ltd.