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| Tata says hello to WiMAX |
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| Friday, 07 March 2008 | |
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Indian group aims to splash US$500 million on broadband wireless network…
In the week that Maravedis ceo and founder Adlane Fellah was wondering whether more Sprints or BSNLs were needed to keep the WiMAX momentum rolling, India’s Tata Communications has stepped up to the plate with the announcement that it had selected Telsima Corp to build what is billed as the world's largest commercial WiMAX network. Reports put the Tata investment at US$500mn in the period to 2010. In the initial phase, Tata Communications' WiMAX network will offer broadband Internet access and content services to enterprise and residential customers in “Tata Communications' seeks to enrich life by enabling reliable and affordable communication anytime, anywhere”, said Shankar Prasad, president, Tata Communications' Retail Business Unit. “To that end Tata Communications has selected Telsima to provide WiMAX infrastructure and subscriber equipment solutions to deploy our commercial WiMAX network, with 3,000 base station sectors already getting deployed. This enables our customers to access video, education, music and business services.” Telsima’s WiMAX technology supports mobile applications, but initially it’s thought that the Tata network will be fixed (but mobility could follow). One other new WiMAX network deal announced this week will support mobility. Although not on the scale of the Tata scheme, Samsung Electronics has announced it will supply the Korean WiBro flavour of mobile WiMAX to Japan’s UQ Communications (formerly Wireless Broadband Planning Inc). UQ, made up of KDDI, Intel Capital, East Japan Railway Company, Kyocera, Daiwa Securities Group and the Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi UFJ, won an operating licence from Japan’s Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications in December last year. UQ is apparently planning WiBro pilot trials in Whether initiatives such as UQ Communications’ (and those of Sprint and others) will be enough to secure the place of mobile WiMAX/WiBro in the pantheon of first tier next generation broadband wireless technologies is moot. A recent report from ABI Research – ‘WiMAX Market Analysis and Forecasts’ - warned that although mobile WiMAX has a time-to-market advantage over LTE, delays in certifications by the WiMAX Forum (coupled with delays in network rollouts) could narrow that window of opportunity. “The biggest opportunity for mobile WiMAX is the chance to develop a wider device ecosystem and worldwide subscriber base before LTE starts to do the same,” says ABI Research principal analyst Philip Solis. “However, LTE remains a potential threat to WiMAX since 3GPP-backed LTE will become the dominant 4G technology and is progressing quickly toward standardisation. Additionally, LTE is seeing early trials take place while moving into TDD (as well as FDD) spectrum territory.” John Williamson |
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