Sentech seeks WiMax partners

[bdt]

From ITWeb:

State-owned diversified technology company Sentech has issued an invitation for the supply, installation and maintenance of WiMax solutions.

“We plan to use WiMax access to go to the end-customer – and by doing so we plan to provide cheaper access to wireless telecoms,” says Gift Zowa, head of telecommunications technology at Sentech.

“Sentech has a requirement for wireless broadband access equipment which specifically complies with the [WiMax] IEEE 802.16 standard to provide managed access services for both fixed (802.16d) and mobile (802.16e) applications,” reads the tender document.

So far, about 30 companies have expressed an interest in the invitation, notes Zowa, and the closing date for tender submissions is 15 November. Sentech will announce the results on 21 December.

The roll-out phase, he adds, will commence once Sentech has received the necessary funding for the project, from its shareholder – the government.

“We're going to be requiring a lot of money,” he says. However, neither Zowa nor company acting COO Frans Lindeque could put a number to the expected cost.

The number of base stations required for a particular area will be dependent on the quotation, and the specific technology to be used, explains Zowa.

The requirements include guaranteeing services and maintenance support for five years after installation, after which the successful company will issue a new maintenance quotation.

The equipment, adds the tender document, “will operate in a point to multi-point configuration and will offer services of capacities configurable up to 2Mbps and above”.

So-o-o-o, having basically totally screwed the pooch with what now amounts to an abortive attempt to provide (meaningful Internet services) with the IPWireless hardware, Sentech now want to lure in a new round of suckers ..err "investors" (OH, for strikeout font!) to waste yet more of their money to back an organisation that can't, in the context of customer service, fight their way out of a paper bag with a flame thrower? But I do like that last line "..offer services of capacities configurable up to 2Mbps and above" - maybe *gasp* someone's actually thinking this time round?

 

[ic]

What amazes me is how NeOTel still thinks CDMA is a 'sexy'-wireless-broadband fulfillment of its fixed-line licence, and here we have Sentech bragging that it is prepared to take the risk with tax payer's money with the latest and greatest WiMax, and yet NeOTel has considerably more money available to it and refuses to take the same risk with WiMax.

What next, will Sentech suddenly decide to break into the wired local loop and offer ADSL as well...

One thing seems certain: Sentech now realises that it has murdered its own MyWireless service!

 

[Luke7777]

One thing seems certain: Sentech now realises that it has murdered its own MyWireless service!

Be on the lookout for MyWimax

 

[ic]

One thing seems certain: Sentech now realises that it has murdered its own MyWireless service!

Be on the lookout for MyWimax

I doubt that Sentech would call their new service MyWimax, Sentech would just continue with the MyWireless brand, maybe tacking on something silly like 'Ultra-Sexy-Flexi' or whatever...

When I first heard about Sentech's discontinuation of MyWireless Classic, the thought crossed my mind that Sentech might deliberately be trying to get rid of customers in an attempt to drastically reduce the dependence on IPWireless infrastructure, and now it makes more sense as there would be far fewer contractual obligations on Sentech to migrate lingering customers to WiMax [IOW exchanging IPWireless modems for WiMax routers|modems].

Any which way you look at it, Sentech is relying on consumers having short memories, and not remembering what Sentech did in the past with MyWireless Classic.

 

[telkomsuig]

anybody want to guess what sentech will charge ... R10 per mb on Mywimax..?

 

[Roman4604]

What amazes me is how NeOTel still thinks CDMA is a 'sexy'-wireless-broadband fulfillment of its fixed-line licence

CDMA is for ultra cheap (< GSM) wireless voice & narrow-band data to the masses. I'm guessing they'll use WiMAX as well for their high-end broadband services.

 

[Fantastic1]

sentech might provide free tv - no license required with any client who takes up there new WiMax Solution