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With the country making its way toward seamless wireless connectivity, thoperators have to improve their in-building solutions for the effective execution of wireless systems.

In order to furnish seamless connectivity, the role of wireless antennas is very crucial. They act as an integral part of any wireless technology. Often undervalued, they play an important role in SNR (signal-noise-rate), conversion quality, reliability of system, and the overall coverage.

At present, there are various antenna technologies in the market. These antennas support multi bands, high-gains and variable tilts. While tri-band antennas and MIMO technology based antennas are gaining immense popularity in the mobile and office segments, the industry is also witnessing higher performing antennas that have more control on radiation patterns to improve capacity, and decrease interference.

Furthermore, as the focus is shifting toward rural connectivity, operators with falling ARPUs and increased competitiveness, are making every possible endeavor to increase their standards.

It is noteworthy that if the antenna system can give a clear signal source for the radio parts, the signal processing and optimizing is much easier and operators can have greater control over their rural networks.

And considering the challenges of rural areas, wireless seems to be the apparent choice for service providers in India.

New Opportunities
There are a lots of opportunities in the subcontinent as needs and requirements of customers in different stages of the technology evolution are different. Developing markets focus more on cost, and require simple and cost-effective infrastructure solutions like 2G.

The implementation of networks, particularly WiMax, will be a significant growth driver for the market. In addition, operators are also testing technologies like 3G and LTE. India's telecommunications industry remains dominated by huge growth in the wireless market.

As per IDC and Business Monitor International, the overall Asia Pacific market is expected to reach 2.2 bn subscribers by 2012 and India, together with China, will continue to lead the growth. As a result, antenna players are gearing to provide extensive range of 3G/WiMax antennas which can help increase RoI within the network, and leverage it for a competitive advantage.

With operators' objective to achieve high network efficiency, opportunity lies in the use of green products to achieve low power consumption. And use of alternative metals like light weight aluminum that can reduce transport costs is expected to step-up.

Experts panel

Navin Vohra, country manager and director, South Asia Operations, Andrew Wireless Solutions Geng Jie, general manager, Mobi Anteena Technologies Akshay Garkel, senior consultant, security and wireless solutions, Datacraft

Compared to the last few years, there is an upward trend in the wireless antenna segment. Factors such as increased usage of laptops and smart hand held, growth of mobile user etc, have been pushing for wide range of antenna systems. In the year 2009, this segment is expected to achieve a growth rate of around 20%.

However, much will depend on the maturity of new technologies such as Wi-Fi (fast roaming and 802.11n), WiMax and 3G. Also, it is important for the antenna market to hit economy of scale to reach the expected growth figures.

With more emphasis on aesthetics, the market is also witnessing growing usage of concealment solutions. This involves hiding the antenna and associated filter infrastructure to make it more appealing.

In emerging economies, operators need to ensure that customers can connect to new services in a better and effective way. On the one land operators need to become more streamlined with regard to their capital investment, on the other they have to manage increasingly complex networks to respond more effectively to customer demands. Developed markets on the meanwhile will focus on areas such as network optimization, 3G, site acquisitions and green networks.

Therefore, by deploying the appropriate network optimization software and usage of high capacity antennas, mobile operators are looking forward to resolve the issues of network overload, and dropped calls for their subscribers.

Issues to Address
Usually antennas are considered as de-facto element in the wireless kit infrastructure. Therefore, it is expected that the cost of antennas should be practically 10% or 0% of the cost of the entire wireless kit. However, analysis reflects that it is difficult to accomplish because of the high-cost involved in making the final product.

In order to meet business requirements, manufacturers are trying to make inbuilt or bare minimal form factor antennas.

Also, to review and enhance subscriber experience, benchmark tools are increasingly being used to enhance subscriber experience. The objective is to allow specific network problems to be fixed, and provide records of competitive advantage over similar wireless services.

Furthermore, obtaining licenses, security issues on unlicensed bands, performance dips due to RF interference and coverage areas would be some of the major concerns faced by enterprises and operators in this area. Further, the high price of license bands for operators is also a major roadblock for growth in this segment.

The regulatory band on which an antenna works is also a key issue that needs to be taken care of. For eg, an antenna supporting 2.4 GHz (Wi-Fi) should only support the bands allowed in the country of adoption.

Also, with the diversion of telecommunications market toward spread spectrum (UMTS and CDMA) technology, antennas such as Di-Pole would require controlling radiation patterns.

From a CIO's perspective, proper wireless intrusion prevention systems at the radio frequency layer is the key issue to address. These type of intrusion prevention systems would deal with proper rouges connecting to the wireless network through these antennas. WIPS should have the capability to do rogue AP/client detection and termination. Other challenges faced by both global and domestic players include escalating local demands, proper training, educating the market, decreasing ARPUs, and site kitting logistics solutions.

While the success of this sector is largely dependent upon the adoption of new technologies like 3G and WiMax, it is also imperative for the manufacturers to come with more effective and customized solutions. Though the market is definitely promising in the years to come, one would see reduction in form factor including internal antennas. At the end, it would be the growing need for reliable, diverse, and robust backhaul network that will determine the success of the market.

Jatinder Singh
jatinders@cybermedia.co.in

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