WiMAX India 2008
WiMAX – Changing the face of communication
Thomex.com
NEW DELHI: India's telecom sector will soon be adopting WiMAX technology across wide spectrum of Telecom service operators, cable operators, 2G, 3G and even new entrants. This was reiterated at the 5th International WiMAX Conference & Exhibition organised in New Delhi recently.
With India's economy moving towards mobile broadband using all Internet Protocol access strategy - WiMax is the next step, the conference felt. Speaking on the occasion, R.N. Prabhakar, Member, Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) said, "Indian telecommunication service providers is expected to witness better and enhanced services in times to come."
“The essential thing is to make such services affordable to a wider section of the public at a reasonable cost. The next phase of mobile service expansion is in the rural areas and policies should encourage service providers to push more and more into the interior of the country and develop business model,” Prabhakar said.
Delivering the keynote address, Soumitra Sana, India President, Motorola stressed the fact that the WiMAX will change the way the telecommunication industry works. "It is placing the world on the threshold of a total transformation," he said.
WiMAX - a wireless access technology with high frequency enables triple play on Personal Computers, notebooks and other end devices. It is also cost-effective, fastest and easiest-to-deploy.
While WiMAX and 3G would be playing complimentary roles, the conference felt that the quality of the service too was important. "Today accessing Internet in India is as high as USD 10.5, which has checked the Internet penetration level to just 5.3 per cent. More internet users are being added every year on mobile than the cumulative wired base,” said Jagbir Singh, Group CTO – Mobility, Bharti Airtel Limited.
"With the obvious benefits from wireless broadband in terms of costs, reliability and easy access, the recent WiMax and 3G policies would help in spreading the wireless broadband into the interior of the country," Singh further added.
Assuring that WiMAX would be an 'extremely good experience', WiMAX India Forum President CS Rao said that it would have been better had the government considered allotting a wide spectrum of 30 MGz per operator instead of 10 MGz.
While complimenting the BSNL for having achieved the maximum reach in rural India, Rao said that the Government initiatives in rural wireless broadband will not only become a reality but will also give it a much-needed boost.
The exhibition-cum-conference which was attended by a large number of telecom players deliberated on various issues related to the telecom sector including Spectrum regulation and licensing, latest updates on global WiMAX deployments and trials; WiMAX technology considerations, WiMAX performance and reliability.
There were number of companies which had displayed their products at the conference. Coral Maksat, a Delhi-based company, showcased its WiMAX 802.16e USB Adapter. "The AWB US220 is a WiMAX USB adapter for laptop users to connect to WiMAX broadband wireless access (BWA) services. It supports Windows XP and Vista as well as Linux Operating System," said Mohit Gupta of Coral Maksat.
Sunil Motwani of Agilent who had put up his stall said that India has a huge potential, as it has already become a WiMAX market for design, R&D and testing. He said that as wireless broadband penetration is low in India, the WiMAX would be able to bridge the gap by providing good services.
NK Rajasekharan, Executive VP (Sales) of Seasolve, a Bangalore-based company, said that it would take some time before WiMAX becomes operation in India. But once it does, it will certainly bring a new ear in mobile connectivity.
"The govt has already allotted spectrum for fixed WiMAX. There are players like Tata and Reliance, which are doing pretty well. If the same happens to wireless mobile accessibility and provided the tariffs are attractive, it will add more value to users' experience," Rajasekharan said.
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