Finally, it turns into a reality
When telecom insiders started talking about SA adopting the new broadband wireless standard, which promised to deliver high-speed Internet a few years ago, many thought that it would be just another overhyped techie trend.
But with Neotel using it to connect as a “final mile” solution to some of its corporate clients, it has demonstrated that WiMax is more than just an overhyped trend. “Where there are long distances between existing infrastructure and the client and there is a need for fast deployment, it makes sense to use WiMax,” says Rajeev Sinha, head of products & solutions at Neotel.
But looking back, it is easy to see why WiMax was viewed with such scepticism. It promised to be faster than ADSL lines and cover a distance of up to 50 km from its base station.
It was for these reasons WiMax was seen as a particularly good way to bring high-speed Internet access to the mass market – given the lack of investment in telecom infrastructure by the incumbent operator and the vast distances between telecom exchanges in SA.
WiMax also gives operators the ability to offer more bandwidth to consumers if there is a sudden surge in demand.
Neotel was one of the first companies to launch a WiMax service in SA. The service is only for corporate clients but already gives the country’s second fixed line operator several advantages.
Unlike laying a high-speed cable, deploying a WiMax service can take days, compared to weeks. “Just the speed of deployment of wireless technologies means that our customers will be able to connect to the Neotel network in much shorter implementation times,” says Sinha.
He says there are other advantages: “Add to that, the scalability of the product, which allows the customer to increase their bandwidth with no physical intervention and the ability for true multiplay – data, Internet and voice – on wireless, and you have true winning combination.”
Executive head of enterprise Stefano Mattiello agrees: “We can offer our clients anything from subrates below 2 MB/s to 2 MBs on wireless,” he says.
A recent study by technology research group World Wide Worx found that WiMax will not be used as a primary medium of connectivity, but it has a role to play where fixed line and digital line options are not available.
WiMax might not be the silver bullet that will solve SA’s broadband problems but it certainly has a part to play.
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