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WiMax has finally arrived in India with the deal between BSNL and Aperto Networks, world's leading WiMax company. President and CEO of Aperto Networks, Michael Pratt, speaks exclusively to VOICE&DATA on significant expansion plans and the WiMax potential in India

BSNL has recently chosen Aperto Networks for rolling out India's first WiMax network. Tell us about the road ahead.
We see WiMax becoming a reality in India with WiMax equipment being deployed in at least six cities-Kolkata, Bangalore, Chennai, Ahmedabad, Hyderabad, and Pune. BSNL will be installing 10 of Aperto's base stations and subscriber units in the first phase including four rural districts in Haryana. We hope that the WiMax network will enable BSNL to offer enterprise customers a wide range of value-added, high bandwidth data communications services, such as MPLS, VPN, leased line, as well as VoIP, e-Governance and e-commerce in remote areas, etc.

What does it mean for the non-corporate users?
Currently, we are focused primarily on enterprise segment and market is not yet there for non-corporate users as it's a very price-dependent market. But hopefully as we build momentum in volume, we will be able to serve the non-corporate users also.

What are your expansion plans in India?
We have increased our investment in research and development, hardware and software development, sales and customer support, and also expanding our channel and technology partnerships across India. The Bangalore WiMax development center has tripled in strength. We also plan to set up a customer support center in Bangalore to provide Tier I support to service providers across India as well as other regions of the world. In addition, we intend to establish an India distribution and local repair facility.

What are Aperto's intentions for manufacturing equipment in India?
We are in discussions with leading contract manufacturing firms in India for local manufacturing of Aperto's WiMax products. Our intention is to manufacture customer premise equipment, ie WiMax modem. As we expand we may add other products like base station equipment. We will probably choose one local partner, but we are currently in discussion with 4-5 Tier 1 partners.

Aperto Networks is also the founder board member of WiMax Forum. In your opinion what is the future prospect of WiMax in India?
We feel WiMax is a natural match for India and undoubtedly India is going to be a very big WiMax market. Over half a billion dollars will be invested in India in next 2-3 years. Every major telecom operator will make an investment in WiMax as it has tremendous potential. Predicting the precise timeframe is always difficult, but it will be sooner based on the beginning momentum and interest we can see now. WiMax can easily resolve the last mile issue. It also can provide early return on investment compared to wireline technology.

What are the likely challenges that WiMax will face in India?
The foremost challenge is the same as what we have seen elsewhere and that is spectrum availability. Currently, reasonable spectrum is available in India and we hope more will be available soon. Second is the price sensitivity of Indian market especially in the residential or rural market. So achieving the price points that will help tip the business over is a huge business challenge for all vendors.

What about support from the government?
From what I have heard, I feel the government is a big driver and a significant promoter in pushing the WiMax technology. The government has fairly understood very well that WiMax has the potential to dramatically increase broadband penetration faster than any other available technology. So the Indian government is eager in taking positive steps, and we can expect many programs to stimulate the growth. We won't be surprised if the government later subsidizes equipment to help us drive toward the desirable price point.

Malovika Rao
malovikar@cybermedia.co.in