NEW DELHI: Wireless mobile internet access is a great tool to have. You can sit by the beach, by the pool side or an airport lounge and surf the net, without any dangling wires. You just have to ensure that the laptop can sniff a Wi-Fi (Wireless Fidelity) hot spot and get going on the world wide web.
The range is about 150 feet and if you want a longer range, say around 30 miles, WiMax (Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access) is the way to go. So said the geeks. But there’s a bit of twist in the tale, thanks partly to new research and partly to actual technology roll out.
WiMax is a great way to cover cities and sparsely populated areas, but actual coverage is far less than promised: one to 1.5 km in very densely populated areas to about 10-12 km in others. On the other hand, Intel researchers have developed a new platform that boosts Wi-Fi antenna’s limited range to 60 miles!
So, in effect instead of WiMax, as a wireless access technology in rural and remote areas, Wi-Fi could do the job as well. And being cheaper, companies may find the long range Wi-Fi a better connectivity tool for sparsely populated areas. With this both WiMax and Wi-Fi can potentially cover vast areas and companies might need to revisit their roll out plans for wireless internet access.
``Wherever we don’t have last mile access we have deployed WiMax; in all at about 20 (includes Ahmedabad, Cochin, Trivandrum, Jallandhar and Kolhapur) locations for enterprise use. WiMax is good for last mile access but it is hyped too much. For good connectivity you need to be in line of sight, outdoor range is good up to 12 km but the further you go from the antenna the weaker the signal becomes,’’ says TV Sriram, vice president, technology, Bharti Airtel. However, Mr Sriram has not come across the long range Wi-Fi or the rural connectivity platform (RCP) as Intel calls it.
Ditto’s Cisco’s business development manager for advanced technologies, Paramjit Singh Puri. Says he, ``there could be a lot of slip between the cup and the lip. WiMax has been the buzzword for the last few years, though it may not be practically possible to have a very long range with a single antenna. On the other hand Wi-Fi has seen lot of deployments the world over including India where there are about 700-800 hot spots. A long range Wi-Fi could make a difference.’’
Intel’s managing director, emerging markets WiMax Program Office, Lil Mohan, however, believes that WiMax is living up to its promise and Intel is launching new chips that offer both WiMax and Wi-Fi capability. ``With WiMax quality of service is guaranteed but not so with WiFi. Also, for the long distance Wi-Fi you need a flat terrain and it will work well where population is sparse, but quality could be an issue,’’ adds Mr Mohan.
The new long distance Wi-Fi platform or RCF has been tested by Intel in India, Panama, Vietnam, South Africa. It comprises processor, radios, specialised software and a directional antenna which helps shoot data to a receiving antenna as far as 60 miles away.
Intel was able to achieve this by using new software and radios, increasing the range of Wi-Fi from just about 150 feet to several miles. However, this is good for sparsely populated areas with a flat terrain, that will enable line of sight signal access.
Eventually both, WiMax and the long range Wi-Fi could be deployed together to cover remote areas for wireless internet access. But those who thought Wi-Fi is only for indoors better update their technology strategy and business plans.
Tuesday, April 1, 2008
Thursday, March 27, 2008
Indian WiFi Market To Boom By 2012!
We recently carried a quote by Oracle R&D head that most devices would be internet enabled and would access the data available on the internet to function better. Well being internet enabled could very well mean that we could soon be in a wifi world. According to a study “Wi-Fi in India: A key enabler of economic, cocial and community development” India’s WiFi market will touch 890 Million dollars by 2012.
Which basically means that wifi enabled device sales will climb 36% year on year from 2008. Also this report doesn’t take into consideration devices like laptops, handsets, and chipsets. The growth mentioned in this report will come from sales of WLAN gear, networking tools, professional services, Wirless Internet Service Provider (WISP) revenues, Wi-Fi applications that are being built for niche sectors, handheld terminals, and system integration services.
I feel with such sales rising there is tremendous potential for a pan india wifi service provider who could also venture into the sales of cheap wifi phones for the masses. Phones like this one launced way back in 2006.
One can download the entire report from here.
Which basically means that wifi enabled device sales will climb 36% year on year from 2008. Also this report doesn’t take into consideration devices like laptops, handsets, and chipsets. The growth mentioned in this report will come from sales of WLAN gear, networking tools, professional services, Wirless Internet Service Provider (WISP) revenues, Wi-Fi applications that are being built for niche sectors, handheld terminals, and system integration services.
I feel with such sales rising there is tremendous potential for a pan india wifi service provider who could also venture into the sales of cheap wifi phones for the masses. Phones like this one launced way back in 2006.
One can download the entire report from here.
Gartner sees 6.9 mn WiMax users by ’11, warns of hype
MUMBAI: Research house Gartner expects India to have 6.9 million WiMax connections by the end of 2011 but has cautioned that only quicker spectrum allocation and licensing from the government, and not the current hype, can help this wireless broadband technology be adopted widely. “We don’t see much growth in the next one or two years” as the spectrum squeeze drags on, a Gartner analyst who co-authored a report on the sector, said.
The government has touted WiMax as the answer for connecting the so-called last mile to rural households and e-governance kiosks and paving the way for higher Internet adoption. However, its departments and public sector institutions have occupied most of the wireless frequency spectrum that must be allotted to service providers. With whatever little spectrum is available, mobile companies including WiMax operators are jostling with each other to provide connectivity.
“The government had good objectives in mind when they came out with their broadband policy. But they did not really take adequate initiatives in freeing spectrum for broadband wireless,” Naresh Singh, Gartner analyst told ET. “So, the Indian WiMax market is not promising in the near-term, except for niche use like enterprises and high-end users,” he said.
Gartner’s study titled “Beware of WiMax hype in India” said the low personal computer usage in the country as well as the lack of adequate spectrum will act as hurdles to the growth of wireless broadband. As a result, the government will not be able to realise its ambition to take WiMax to villages in the next few years, Mr Singh said.
Seven companies have been licensed to offer WiMax services in India, but in the 3.5 GHz band with a very narrow slot of 5 MHz each, Mr Singh said. The microwave frequency band must be much wider to aid a rapid growth in subscribers, he added. The government also plans to open up the popular 2.5 GHz band and give each service provider double the current frequency, but it would be at least a few months before the rollout happens, he said. “So, till 2009, we don’t expect full-blown WiMax services to be available in India.”
In recent years, several wireless technologies have emerged, but most of them have become obsolete even before the governments and industry got around to standardise and adopt them. The latest “horses in the race”, Mr Singh said, are WiMax and the third-generation wireless CDMA (code division multiple access) technology.
The Indian government has sought to encourage both, letting market forces eventually decide the more popular technology. But Mr Singh said WiMax has seen better traction so far with services already beginning in many cities. Eventually, it would be the mobile phones and not computers that will drive the adoption of WiMax, he said. “Indian users seem to have a propensity for mobile services both for voice and data,” and hence there is a case for encouraging mobile WiMax services.
Source : EconomicTimes
The government has touted WiMax as the answer for connecting the so-called last mile to rural households and e-governance kiosks and paving the way for higher Internet adoption. However, its departments and public sector institutions have occupied most of the wireless frequency spectrum that must be allotted to service providers. With whatever little spectrum is available, mobile companies including WiMax operators are jostling with each other to provide connectivity.
“The government had good objectives in mind when they came out with their broadband policy. But they did not really take adequate initiatives in freeing spectrum for broadband wireless,” Naresh Singh, Gartner analyst told ET. “So, the Indian WiMax market is not promising in the near-term, except for niche use like enterprises and high-end users,” he said.
Gartner’s study titled “Beware of WiMax hype in India” said the low personal computer usage in the country as well as the lack of adequate spectrum will act as hurdles to the growth of wireless broadband. As a result, the government will not be able to realise its ambition to take WiMax to villages in the next few years, Mr Singh said.
Seven companies have been licensed to offer WiMax services in India, but in the 3.5 GHz band with a very narrow slot of 5 MHz each, Mr Singh said. The microwave frequency band must be much wider to aid a rapid growth in subscribers, he added. The government also plans to open up the popular 2.5 GHz band and give each service provider double the current frequency, but it would be at least a few months before the rollout happens, he said. “So, till 2009, we don’t expect full-blown WiMax services to be available in India.”
In recent years, several wireless technologies have emerged, but most of them have become obsolete even before the governments and industry got around to standardise and adopt them. The latest “horses in the race”, Mr Singh said, are WiMax and the third-generation wireless CDMA (code division multiple access) technology.
The Indian government has sought to encourage both, letting market forces eventually decide the more popular technology. But Mr Singh said WiMax has seen better traction so far with services already beginning in many cities. Eventually, it would be the mobile phones and not computers that will drive the adoption of WiMax, he said. “Indian users seem to have a propensity for mobile services both for voice and data,” and hence there is a case for encouraging mobile WiMax services.
Source : EconomicTimes
Monday, March 24, 2008
Wi-Fi market in India to touch $891mn mark by 2011-12: Study
NEW DELHI: Riding on realty, retail and other infrastructure sectors boom, including the Indian Railways, the adaptation of Wi-Fi in India is set to increase massively.
After witnessing a 100% increase in the number of hotspots (locations that are Wi-Fi enabled, where one can log on to the Net without using cables) to about 1,600 in 2007-08, this number is expected to increase by several multiple times during the current year.
A study by the Global Wi-Fi Alliance has estimated that Wi-Fi market in India will grow to $891million by 2011-12. This figure includes WLAN gear, networking tools, professional services, Wirless Internet Service Provider (WISP) revenues, Wi-Fi applications that are being built for niche sectors, handheld terminals, and system integration services, but does not include chipsets, laptops, PDAs, cell phone handsets and other devices.
According to Global Wi-FI Alliance senior marketing manager Kelly Davis-Felner, the addressable base of Wi-Fi-enabled client devices is growing steadily in India since about 90 - 95% of notebooks being sold today had a built-in Wi-Fi capability.
“We have noticed that a small but growing number of Indian mobile subscribers are going in for handsets with Wi-Fi capability. A highly mobile, young generation increasingly expects near-always-on mobile broadband connectivity and is willing to pay for it. These factors will drive increased use of Wi-Fi in India moving forward,” Ms Davis-Felner added.
The global Wi-FI alliance’s study also points out that exploding real-estate market growing at 30% annually, where entire new townships are coming up in tier-2 and tier-3 towns, coupled with the fact that organized retail was expected to add about 220 million square feet of space by 2010, provided the perfect platform for Wi-Fi to take off in India.
More so, considering that the growth in commercial office space requirements is led by the burgeoning outsourcing and information technology (IT) industry-for example, IT and ITeS alone is estimated to require 150 million square feet across urban India by 2010.
Other factors that will ignite Wi-Fi in India include large-scale developments of hotspots by corporates, telcos and PSUs. For instance, the Indian Railways recently announced that all important rail-routes between metros would be made Wi-Fi-enabled together with 50 railway stations (20 of which to be completed by March, 2008).
Tata Communications, which has already rolled out rolled out 350 plus public hotspot locations is set to increase the chain to about 1,000 this year in 2008.
Similarly, BSNL is setting up 100,000 Community Service Centres which will be carrying a powerful info kiosk that has Internet connectivity, plans to make a significant number of these Wi-Fi enabled.
“While new technology solutions (PON, WiMAX, ADSL) will continue to address growing demand for broadband in India, Wi-Fi will continue to play a strong role in sub-tending the last mile to multiple end-points - slashing costs, improving inventory management in organized retail, enabling faster check-ins at airport counters, medical services in rural India, creating jobs in a rural BPOs, spreading education in hinterlands of India and enriching quality of life for many,” the Wi-Fi Alliance study adds.
Expressing confidence in Wi-Fi uptake in India, Ms Davis-Felner added: The biggest strengths of Wi-Fi are its ubiquity (virtually every notebook shipped is Wi-Fi equipped and an increasing number of mobile phones carry the capability now), its maturity as a technology and the demonstrated interoperability it provides today.
Wi-Fi’s complementary nature with a variety of back-haul technologies including DSL, WiMAX or FTTX, make it a natural ally to most service providers in extending the ‘last-mile’ of connectivity to the user.”
Source : EconomicTimes
After witnessing a 100% increase in the number of hotspots (locations that are Wi-Fi enabled, where one can log on to the Net without using cables) to about 1,600 in 2007-08, this number is expected to increase by several multiple times during the current year.
A study by the Global Wi-Fi Alliance has estimated that Wi-Fi market in India will grow to $891million by 2011-12. This figure includes WLAN gear, networking tools, professional services, Wirless Internet Service Provider (WISP) revenues, Wi-Fi applications that are being built for niche sectors, handheld terminals, and system integration services, but does not include chipsets, laptops, PDAs, cell phone handsets and other devices.
According to Global Wi-FI Alliance senior marketing manager Kelly Davis-Felner, the addressable base of Wi-Fi-enabled client devices is growing steadily in India since about 90 - 95% of notebooks being sold today had a built-in Wi-Fi capability.
“We have noticed that a small but growing number of Indian mobile subscribers are going in for handsets with Wi-Fi capability. A highly mobile, young generation increasingly expects near-always-on mobile broadband connectivity and is willing to pay for it. These factors will drive increased use of Wi-Fi in India moving forward,” Ms Davis-Felner added.
The global Wi-FI alliance’s study also points out that exploding real-estate market growing at 30% annually, where entire new townships are coming up in tier-2 and tier-3 towns, coupled with the fact that organized retail was expected to add about 220 million square feet of space by 2010, provided the perfect platform for Wi-Fi to take off in India.
More so, considering that the growth in commercial office space requirements is led by the burgeoning outsourcing and information technology (IT) industry-for example, IT and ITeS alone is estimated to require 150 million square feet across urban India by 2010.
Other factors that will ignite Wi-Fi in India include large-scale developments of hotspots by corporates, telcos and PSUs. For instance, the Indian Railways recently announced that all important rail-routes between metros would be made Wi-Fi-enabled together with 50 railway stations (20 of which to be completed by March, 2008).
Tata Communications, which has already rolled out rolled out 350 plus public hotspot locations is set to increase the chain to about 1,000 this year in 2008.
Similarly, BSNL is setting up 100,000 Community Service Centres which will be carrying a powerful info kiosk that has Internet connectivity, plans to make a significant number of these Wi-Fi enabled.
“While new technology solutions (PON, WiMAX, ADSL) will continue to address growing demand for broadband in India, Wi-Fi will continue to play a strong role in sub-tending the last mile to multiple end-points - slashing costs, improving inventory management in organized retail, enabling faster check-ins at airport counters, medical services in rural India, creating jobs in a rural BPOs, spreading education in hinterlands of India and enriching quality of life for many,” the Wi-Fi Alliance study adds.
Expressing confidence in Wi-Fi uptake in India, Ms Davis-Felner added: The biggest strengths of Wi-Fi are its ubiquity (virtually every notebook shipped is Wi-Fi equipped and an increasing number of mobile phones carry the capability now), its maturity as a technology and the demonstrated interoperability it provides today.
Wi-Fi’s complementary nature with a variety of back-haul technologies including DSL, WiMAX or FTTX, make it a natural ally to most service providers in extending the ‘last-mile’ of connectivity to the user.”
Source : EconomicTimes
Broadband Growth for Feb'08
Broadband (≥ 256 Kbps download) Growth: Total Broadband subscribers base has reached 3.47 million by the end of February 2008 as compared to 3.24 million by the end of January 2008.
Source : http://www.trai.gov.in/trai/upload/PressReleases/549/pr24mar08no27.pdf
Source : http://www.trai.gov.in/trai/upload/PressReleases/549/pr24mar08no27.pdf
Friday, March 14, 2008
BSNL to invite bids for 8 mn modems
NEW DELHI: In one of the largest orders for broadband services globally, state-owned BSNL is all set to invite bids for 8 million Digital Subscriber Lines (DSL), also called modem. Sources said global majors Alcatel, Lucent, Nokia Siemens, Ericsson, ZTE, Huawei and others have already expressed interest to bid for the BSNL contract, expected to be worth several hundred million dollars. India has about 3.24 million broadband connections and the BSNL tender is more than twice the existing broadband subscriber of all operators combined.
More importantly, BSNL is offering more than broadband services. The company has informed prospective bidders that the modem should not only offer high speed internet access, but also carry content services such as IPTV, internet telephony and VoD (Video on Demand systems allow users to select and watch video and clip content over a network as part of an interactive TV system). It should also offer enterprise services such as Virtual Private Network over broadband. Sources said that tender conditions would also stipulate that a significant per cent of these modems are Wi-Fi-enabled.
It is also learnt that BSNL has called a meeting of all chip set vendors who manufacture DSLs to understand what the PSU terms ‘latest developments in DSL.’ “The meeting is scheduled in the next few days and the tender conditions will be finalised only after that,’’ sources close to the development added.
While the DSLs will cater to broadband services via fixedline, BSNL is also pushing for high speed internet through wireless (also called WiMAX services). WiMAX will also paves the way for high-speed wireless internet on laptops and high-end mobile handsets. The PSU has already earmarked Rs 3,000 crore for it and has decided to follow a franchisee model for its wireless broadband services.
The company has also floated an expression of interest to select the franchisees through a two-stage bidding process. As reported by ET first, BSNL has tied up with US-based WiMAX solutions firm Soma Networks through the franchisee model for what is considered the largest WiMAX deployment in the country covering four states in three circles — Gujarat, Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh and Goa.
BSNL had earlier received some spectrum in the 2.5 GHz frequency band for its WiMAX rollout. It plans to roll out WiMax services in 70 cities across the country by the second half of 2008 and set up 50,000 Common Service Centres (CSCs) — ICT-enabled kiosks — across the country using WiMAX. The government has set itself a target of 20 million broadband lines in service by 2010 and BSNL is targeting a market share of about 60% of this figure.
Source : EconomicTimes
More importantly, BSNL is offering more than broadband services. The company has informed prospective bidders that the modem should not only offer high speed internet access, but also carry content services such as IPTV, internet telephony and VoD (Video on Demand systems allow users to select and watch video and clip content over a network as part of an interactive TV system). It should also offer enterprise services such as Virtual Private Network over broadband. Sources said that tender conditions would also stipulate that a significant per cent of these modems are Wi-Fi-enabled.
It is also learnt that BSNL has called a meeting of all chip set vendors who manufacture DSLs to understand what the PSU terms ‘latest developments in DSL.’ “The meeting is scheduled in the next few days and the tender conditions will be finalised only after that,’’ sources close to the development added.
While the DSLs will cater to broadband services via fixedline, BSNL is also pushing for high speed internet through wireless (also called WiMAX services). WiMAX will also paves the way for high-speed wireless internet on laptops and high-end mobile handsets. The PSU has already earmarked Rs 3,000 crore for it and has decided to follow a franchisee model for its wireless broadband services.
The company has also floated an expression of interest to select the franchisees through a two-stage bidding process. As reported by ET first, BSNL has tied up with US-based WiMAX solutions firm Soma Networks through the franchisee model for what is considered the largest WiMAX deployment in the country covering four states in three circles — Gujarat, Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh and Goa.
BSNL had earlier received some spectrum in the 2.5 GHz frequency band for its WiMAX rollout. It plans to roll out WiMax services in 70 cities across the country by the second half of 2008 and set up 50,000 Common Service Centres (CSCs) — ICT-enabled kiosks — across the country using WiMAX. The government has set itself a target of 20 million broadband lines in service by 2010 and BSNL is targeting a market share of about 60% of this figure.
Source : EconomicTimes
Jaipur to be Wifi City in 1 Year
We had blogged about the fact that the first wifi city could be Jaipur in India also the fact that builders themselves are looking at installing wifi in their new buildings is heartening for anyone who wants the internet penetration in India to grow. Now Jaipur has finally got its first wifi hotspot at the Sindhi Camp Bus Stand courtesy Data Infosys Ltd which is looking at wifi’ing the entire jaipur city.
Though these citywise initiatives are great I would love to see a national initiative on the wifi front atleast as far as the top 8 metros is concerned. This is because a wifi city would mean if you have a wifi phone or a voip phone which are available internationally then you would be able to make unlimited calls internationally at a fixed monthly wifi fee (thats assuming the wifi access is charged at a fixed monthly fee).
What this may also do is completely remove the operator from the picture and also bring to fore tonnes of voip providers. But again this is wishful thinking as to actually carry out such a mass wifi project requires a big company like reliance or tata to take up the same which they wont as they are operators themselves.
Source : WATBlog
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