WiMAX - the controversy continues

Is WiMAX ready to deliver true mobile?

Is WiMAX ready to deliver true mobile? There are as many different answers as individuals approached for comment. Intel gave a definite yes.

The company's Chris Beardsmore said that Intel is ready and has started a commercial pilot with American telecoms company Clearwire.

Beardsmore is the Intel WiMAX market development manager, Europe, Middle East and Africa Primarily a silicon manufacturer, Intel’s interest is in developing a market for its WiMAX chipset.

“It takes a long time to for telecoms network providers to develop their infrastructure and manufactures of end-user equipment to get their products to market. It is in our interest for this to happen in parallel with our developments and a fast as possible.

“We have done a lot of work on the theory and modeling of true mobility. In 2006 we built a small network in conjunction with Clearwire in the USA’s Portland, Oregon area, and with Motorola as an equipment provider. The network consisted of four base stations and 12 sectors.

The aim was to test our theory and models in a real environment. We have continued that effort. We have entered the beta phase, carrying out a commercial deployment with 40 base stations and users across Portland. This will form a true trial for Clearline. This deployment affords the opportunity of testing new features as they come on stream.

“It is true mobility WiMAX. We are demonstrating hand-off between base stations using it in vehicles travelling up to 120 km.”

But the question remains: will true mobility hit the market this year? Intel believes that the suppliers are ready to supply the infrastructure.

The other debate that rages in the industry is WiMAX versus HSPDA. Companies like Ericsson ask the question: why put so much emphasis on WiMAX when it is not ready to be rolled out as a system providing true mobility?

Intel believes that the two systems are complementary networks. “HSPDA is a stable and mature technology but our concern is what will happen when the networks saturate? Mobile data is growing at a phenomenal rate and it is unlikely that the long term evolution (LTE) of HSPDA will meet the race. This is where WiMAX will have a few years lead.”

Noel Kirkaldy of Motorola agrees. He says WiMAX will shake up the telecoms market because of its lower cost base. Kirkaldy is the director, wireless broadband, Middle East & Africa, Motorola Home & Networks Mobility.

WiMAX is a great opportunity for Africa because of its lower cost base and ease of installation. If one considers an average monthly internet usage level of 1 to 1.5 Gbps per customer, the costs of providing access using HSDPA, EVDO-A or WiMAX are much the same.

It is reasonable to assume that the usage of 1 – 2 Gbps per month is the entry level but as customers start experiencing internet offerings, monthly usage will increase exponentially. It is then that WiMAX becomes the real differentiator, enabling operators to offer real broadband at a lower cost.

At 12 Gbps per (user per) month, Motorola puts the cost differential of ownership between WiMAX and HSDPA at $47 versus $144 per month (R352,50 vs R1080 per month).

Motorola was recently awarded a contract by Wateen of Pakistan to supply 198 000 end-user WiMAX 802.16e customer premises equipment devices. This will provide customers in that country with unprecedented wireless access to agile and affordable data and VoIP services.

Beardsmore agrees with Motorola that WiMAX has an important role to play in Africa.
Where no large copper infrastructure is available, WiMAX clearly has a cost advantage and fits in very neatly.

But what about South Africa?

A few years ago Intel and Telkom signed an agreement to carry out WiMAX trials in the Gauteng area and Durban. Little has been said about the trials. Did they indeed take place and if they did what was the objective, the expected and actual outcome?

EngineerIT IT posed the question to Telkom’s Steve Lewis (executive: Technical Product
Developement). Lewis said that in 2004, Telkom and Intel Corporation entered into a memorandum of understanding for the exchange of information in order to keep abreast of WiMAX developments.

Intel, being vendor-independent, provided insight into the technology roadmaps and general availability of network equipment and devices. Intel has been a key enabler for Telkom’s knowledge base for WiMAX via access to subject-matter experts, technology information sharing, industry trends and operator adoption world-wide.

Telkom’s association with Intel was seen as a key success factor in getting broadband wireless access services at an accelerated time-to-market.

Intel also assisted with technical issues in support of Telkom’s WiMAX trial. It should be noted that the agreement preceded any equipment trial with Alvarion (represented by Grintek Telecom, now SAAB Grintek). The support received from the local Intel office was said to be exceptional.

Telkom also carried out trials with other vendors. According to Lewis, the objective was to perform functional and fulfilment, assurance and billing (FAB) testing on the Telkom product that was developed based on WiMAX-d technology.

Technical functionality was tested during a first phase from October 2006 to February 2007 – only Telkom internal customers were involved. The trial was extended to a second phase until August 2007 during which external customers were involved and full FAB was tested and finalised.

WiMax discussion

Free Daily Newsletter Subscription  ||