Wireless links boom globally
The scope of wireless broadband connectivity is expanding globally, with several technologies vying for position in this market, providing consumers and businesses with a greater number of choices.
Wi-Fi is proliferating in local area networks and thousands of wireless hotspots worldwide, and is capable of transmitting huge bandwidth over many kilometres, in some cases providing city-wide hotspots.
At the same time the take-up of 3G mobile data services is gaining momentum.
In August this year the GSM Association, the global trade association for the mobile industry, announced that the number of worldwide subscribers using mobile broadband data networks topped the 50-million mark, from 11- million a year ago. This figure is expected to grow at the rate of 4- million a month.
Over the next few years the mobile networks are expected to evolve to 4G through the introduction of long-term evolution (LTE), a technology that provides much faster throughput speeds than 3G. Potentially , LTE speeds are said to peak at 100 megabits per second (Mbps) on the downlink and 30Mbps on the uplink, and the technology is expected to be available worldwide after 2010.
Some industry players are backing WiMAX as the future dominant player in the wireless broadband space. WiMAX can provide up to 70Mbps upload and download speeds, although local services are delivering a fraction of this.
Fixed line and mobile operators are starting to adopt WiMAX globally and Telkom is offering services related to the technology in the local market.
Earlier this month iBurst launched a WiMAX service that provides an alternative to a leased line but is about 20% cheaper. The service costs from R1109 a month and provides guaranteed throughput speeds of 128, 256 or 512 kilobits per second.
Its consistent speed capability gives WiMAX an edge over other mobile and wireless technologies, which are subject to fluctuating speeds depending on the number of users connecting to the service at any time, says iBurst MD Alan Knott Craig jnr.
“Our WiMAX speeds are never less than the guaranteed speed and are sometimes faster.”
A recent report from local research firm World Wide Worx predicts that 20% of South African corporations will use WiMAX as an element of their connectivity mix this year.
In many emerging markets WiMAX is seen as the only means of broadband connectivity and is being implemented by operators and service providers in many parts of Africa.
The technology is beginning to gain favour among operators in developed regions like the US, where Sprint and Clearwire agreed to merge their wireless businesses to pursue a nationwide WiMAX network jointly.
Michael Alter, MD of Primetel, says while there is a lot of talk about WiMAX as an emerging technology, the connectivity equipment to link user devices to the service is expensive.
“WiMAX has yet to be proved as a mass-market communication solution,” he says.
There is a risk that technologies like Wi-Fi could become too well entrenched before WiMAX gains momentum in the market. If this happens, WiMAX may not achieve significant market penetration in consumer connectivity, in which case it will be confined to providing high capacity bandwidth connectivity to corporations and connecting them to the operators’ fibre backbone networks, and the technology is already starting to be used for this. But even at the high-end of the market WiMAX is up against well-established technology standards such as CDMA, says Alter.
Neotel is using CDMA to link customers to its fibre backbone networks and service providers like Primetel are using it to deliver voice and data services to customers.
Telkom is investing in a wireless broadband network based on W-CDMA, a 3G-based technology, to deliver voice and data services.
Satellite is another contender in the wireless broadband space.
Channel Islands-based O3b Networks is building a 16satellite constellation to deliver cheap internet connectivity to developing regions like Africa, the Middle East, Asia and Latin America by late 2010.
The objective of this initiative is to reduce bandwidth costs for operators and ISPs in areas where broadband connectivity is lacking.
It is scheduled for completion in 2010.
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