Indian telecom service providers, who are looking at expanding their broadband footprint, targeting both retail and enterprise customers, are set to get a chance to choose the best broadband technologies from an array of multiple options, though their confusion over the selection of technology will continue for some more time.

When telecom operators go for massive deployments from the current stages of trial runs and commercial deployments in select cities, they will be more choosy and careful about the best technologies that suit their business model. Besides cost, service providers (SPs) will emphasize on spectral efficiency, suitability for the Indian market and critical mass, cross-generational devices, compatibility and interoperability, economies of scale, etc. This will be a strategic shift from the current situation where operators are mainly waiting for the best price-points in addition to technological supremacy.

Apart from WiMax technologies, which are already in the process of establishing their presence, the ultra-mobile broadband (UMB) technologies, which will be available for trial runs in 2008-09, will be a case in point. 3G will also be a critical technology to reckon with.

Despite the early launch of WiMax technologies in India, WiMax is yet to create its anticipated impact in the country. “Major deployments for WiMax in India will be a reality only by early 2009 as various factors such as WiMax ecosystem maturity, resolving spectrum issue, etc have to be resolved. Until then, unlicensed WiMax, pre-WiMax systems and Wi-MESH, Wi-Fi will be a good alternative, which can co-exist when WiMax matures,” says Balaji Kulothungan, CEO, PointRed Telecom.

The broadband subscriber-base also suggests that WiMax is yet to pick up. According to TRAI, the number of broadband subscribers with a download speed of 256 Kbps or more was 24.2 lakh for the quarter ended June 30, 2007. Out of these, 1,984,193 are DSL based; 264,904 cable modem; 83,521 ethernet LAN; 20,594 fiber; 20,466 radio customers; and 48,541 others.

The growth of broadband customers in the country is also wanting. The number of broadband subscribers, as reported by ISPs, grew by 3.5%; the country had 24.2 lakh users during the quarter ended June 30, 2007 as compared to 23.4 lakh for the quarter ended March 31, 2007.

The industry, however, is optimistic about the growth in the coming years. Industry experts feel that by 2008, there will be 400 deployments of WiMax, providing access to 150 mn people globally. By 2010, 650 mn will be able to access WiMax facilities, and by 2012, more than 1 bn people.

In India, operators such as Bharti Airtel, BSNL, Tata Teleservices, VSNL, Idea Cellular, Aircel, Sify, and others are aggressively monitoring the situation, while Vodafone Essar is likely to join the WiMax bandwagon soon.

Operators are looking at cost effective technologies that can match their strategies for India and availability of multiple technologies is a boon. Jagbir Singh, chief technical officer, Bharti Airtel, says: “We are looking at strengthening our broadband presence across the country. But the final plan will be ready once we find the best price-points and a clear regulatory atmosphere.”

WiMax Options
There are several factors to consider when deploying mobile WiMax. These factors will vary, and potentially increase the complexity and cost of deployment at higher frequency bands.

Frequency is one of the main criteria, while technology selection becomes the most important. WiMax operates in a mixture of licensed and unlicensed bands. The unlicensed bands are typically the 2.4 GHz and 5.8 GHz bands. Licensed spectrum offers operators control over the usage of the band, allowing them to build a high-quality network. The unlicensed band, on the other hand, allows independents to provide backhaul services for hotspots, says Graeme King, specialist, Regulation and Policy (South Asia), Nortel.

Indian service providers are beginning to see the new era of broadband. UMB is slated to hit the market within the next eighteen months for trials, while 3G is already a proven technology elsewhere. With the maturing of the WiMax technology, more people are beginning to identify the need for WiMax. In India, WiMax has a very important place, but emergence of other technologies cannot be ruled out.

Alok Sharma, CEO, Telsima Corporation, says that with the backing of Intel, the WiMax industry will see substantial growth in the coming years. There are a lot of supporters for this technology in India and abroad.

Research by Maravedi Research in the US and Tonse Telecom predict that India would have 21 mn WiMax subscribers by 2014. This is an optimistic figure, considering the current number of broadband users. According to the research, the BRIC countries-Brazil, Russia, India, and China-will be on the top of the WiMax growth chart.

Forecast is not available on the growth of 3G and UMB broadband customers in India. According to Juniper Research, the number of subscribers turning 3G LTE Will approach 24 million by 2012.

“Both technologies (WiMax and UMB)can co-exist, as it will give operators a choice to select the best” Graeme King, specialist, Regulation and Policy (South Asia), Nortel	“The solution (for rural India) is to deploy spectrally efficient high-speed networks on diverse competing platforms” BV Raman, country head, India, CDG

Telsima Corporation, which recently announced its full spectrum of IEEE 802.16e-2005 compliant, standards-based mobile WiMax products for end-to-end BWA networks, signed agreements with Elcoteq for manufacturing WiMax-based subscriber stations.

“We are extremely bullish about the potential of WiMax in India. Telsima's strategy is to balance global manufacturing with local manufacturing, and to work with multiple tier-1 global contract manufacturers, and to constantly review the process of reoptimization with them to best benefit our customers,” Sharma adds.

WiMax has received good acceptance from global telecom majors. Recently, Vodafone, which remains technology neutral for its future network options, joined the WiMax Forum as a principal member. Its membership of the WiMax Forum will complement its existing memberships of other key industry bodies such as the GSMA, 3GPP, and the Next Generation Mobile Network initiative. Vodafone, which has a strong presence in India, is keen to evaluate the full capabilities and potential of the WiMax technology.

“WiMax in India will be a reality only by 2009 as various factors such as ecosystem maturity, resolving spectrum issue, etc have to be taken care of” Balaji Kulothungan CEO, PointRed Telecom	“With the backing of Intel, the WiMax industry will see substantial growth in the coming years” Alok Sharma CEO, Telsima Corporation

According to BV Raman, country head, India, CDMA Development Group, the main reason for limitations to the Internet and broadband penetration in India is the limited amount of copper deployed by fixed line operators, including the incumbents.

According to TRAI, the maximum number of subscribers that can be accommodated is 9 mn. Rural India is difficult to connect due to difficult terrain and geographical spread.

“The solution is to deploy spectrally efficient high-speed networks on diverse competing platforms. Building next-generation networks to non-standardized parameters would have introduced unnecessary complexity and fragmented the potential subscriber base, raising the eventual cost of mobile devices as well as the cost of rolling out services,” Raman adds.

Given the high costs of R&D required for designing networks, devices, and services, industry players-both operators and their vendors-must seek and realize economies of scale and scope to become or remain competitive.

The fact that the decision of the radiocommunication sector of the International Telecommunication Union (ITU-R) to include WiMax Forum's version of IEEE Standard 802.16 as an IMT-2000 technology has been cheered by the WiMax sector. The decision to approve is expected to escalate opportunities for global deployment, especially within the 2.5-2.69 GHz band, to deliver mobile Internet aimed at both rural and urban market demands.

Will UMB become Critical?
UMB or ultra-mobile broadband, which will support ITU's vision for next generation services, combines the aspects of CDMA, TDM, LS-OFDM, OFDM, and OFDMA into a single air interface, using advanced and highly optimized control and signaling mechanisms. Incorporation of advanced antenna techniques such as MIMO and SDMA enables UMB to achieve higher peak data rates, low latency and high spectral efficiency. The technology is said to have a flexible and dynamic mode of operation to combine and allocate spectrum as needed for variety of user applications and activities.

According to Mahesh Makhijani, director, Technical Marketing, Qualcomm, “UMB has competitive advantages. It is the optimized broadband OFDMA solution designed for high-speed data and VoIP in a mobile environment. The ultra fast user experience maximizes revenue from all segments such as laptops, UMPCs, handsets, desktops, etc. High data and VoIP capacity lower costs for all services. We enjoy the track record of technology leadership, highly integrated ASICs, and industry partnerships.”

Earlier this year, Qualcomm introduced its new infrastructure reference design for UMB networks. Based on Qualcomm's OFDMA Cell Site Modem CSM8900 and technologies from component and software providers, the base station reference design is intended to help enable OEMs reduce their development costs and quickly commercialize new UMB infrastructure products.

Leading WiMax players, such as Telsima, don't agree with this. “Since the UMB technologies are backed by Qualcomm, there will be a special “pricing” on SPs that will escalate the total cost of roll outs. This has happened in the case of CDMA,” says Alok Sharma of Telsima.

Echoing similar sentiments, Sunil Kumar, director, Marketing, Beceem Communications, says: “The industry wants an open architecture. Open standards bring in collective R&D. In the case of WiMax, technology was not majority owned by a single owner and this creates potential for the WiMax segment to flourish.”

According to Qualcomm, its UMB reference design provides a well-architected, flexible solution for the physical layer (layer 1) as well as for layers 2 and 3, giving vendors the ability to accelerate their next-generation development efforts. Using this design, both large and small OEMs are able to leverage Qualcomm's R&D experience with OFDMA-based technologies, reducing barriers to market entry.

With WiMax technology approved as a new IMT-2000 specification, the WiMax ecosystem will benefit from greater economies of scale, thus reducing the already low cost to deliver broadband wireless services to include VoIP as well as the multiple services expected from wireless broadband Internet access, Nortel's King says.

Senior ZTE officials say that mass deployment of WiMax technologies will be much faster than UMB, which will take at least two-three years for commercial deployment. “All leading operators, including Sprint of the US, are looking at WiMax. If Sprint can succeed, others will follow. Operators in countries such as Singapore, China, and Taiwan are doing trials and they are happy with the WiMax solutions. India will also see more network roll outs in the coming months,” the officials add.

Qualcomm's Mahesh Makhijani says the UMB converged access network enables seamless handoffs with low overheads. Its advanced QoS mechanisms enable performance and optimized network efficiency. Also, its simpler RAN-Core interface minimizes development and time-to-market of UMB. UMB also provides flexible and efficient architecture.

Vipul Sharma, solution manager, Nortel Networks India, echoes similar sentiment. He says Nortel, which is yet to book any WiMax contract in India, will have some major orders in 2008. “We are looking at mass deployments,” he adds.

Bo Ribbing, general manager, 3G Program (market unit India and Sri Lanka), is apprehensive about the success of WiMax and UMB. He feels that cost efficiency will come out of scale. “India cannot achieve scale with UMB as its prime focus is data. UMB may be a fantastic technology, but there are no takers at present. In fact, UMB is an evolution of CDMA, which is shrinking globally. Latin American operators are moving toward GSM,” he says.

And, 3G?
“3G is the proven and the best-suited technology that can be used by Indian operators to succeed in the broadband segment. WiMax is not cost efficient and coverage will be poor as compared with 3G standards,” Ribbing adds.

Spectrum is a rare commodity in India. Kundan Das, deputy general manager, International Marketing, Huawei Telecommunications India, warns operators, saying: “Expansion of broadband networks should be related to availability of spectrum. Wireless broadband is the only option to speed up broadband deployments. Spectrum support to FDD will be considered for existing operators migrating to future BWA technologies. UMB with strong support from technology providers and operators will be one of the options. All these UMB attributes allow operators a lot of deployment flexibility.”

Nortel's King says that India is heading in the right direction, as WiMax is the most spectral efficient technology that is currently available for broadband services. “Service providers in India have the advantage of utilizing a technology, which is currently available. Can they wait for two-three years when UMB really comes out of the shelves for commercial deployments?” King queries.

However, King feels that both technologies can co-exist, as it will give operators a choice to select the best.

Ivan Machado, director, CDMA/EVDO Business Division, Wireless Business Group, Alcatel-Lucent, says the 3GPP2/CDMA market is strong and leading the way globally to 3G and beyond. 3GPP2/CDMA ecosystem has a successful track record of delivering differentiated capabilities to market. It provides solutions for segments in both developed and developing markets, from voice to data, enabling new and profitable business models. UMB, a part of the 3GPP2 evolution, offers a time-to-market advantage for offering differentiated VoIP and real-time multimedia applications starting with Rev A/B and smoothly evolving to future with enormous economies of scale.

India has emerged as the hottest market for broadband technologies. Service providers, which are price sensitive and do not want to experiment with new technologies till they are experimented elsewhere, will have multiple options to select the best in the coming years. However, service providers must catch up with the global telecom markets where customers have already started experiencing unique things.

Baburajan K
baburajank@cybermedia.co.in