In the US, the FCC has long pursued a policy of deregulation aimed specifically at allowing the Internet to flourish. The classic illustration of this approach is the FCC decision in the early 1980s making the so-called enhanced service providers, for example the ISPs, exempt from access charges. With hindsight, this was a highly significant ruling as it forms the basis on which millions of US Internet users access their ISP through a non-metered telephone call. Nearly one-third of US households is regular Internet user, and the average daily on-line time is four times that in the UK. This is not just a mater of providing cheap home entertainment. In 1998, the US Internet economy is estimated to have generated some $300 billion in revenue and was responsible for 1.2 million jobs.

More recently, the FCC has been using its frequency-allocation powers to promote high-bandwidth Internet access. Three frequency bands are of particular relevance, covering the U-NII (used by the initial variant of AB-Access); the Local Multi-point Distribution Service (LMDS), and Multi-channel Multi-point Distribution Systems (MMDSs). LMDS is the broadband wireless technology used to deliver voice, Internet and video services in the 25 GHz and higher bands. In the US, 1.3 MHz of bandwidth has been allocated to LMDS in bands between 27.5 GHz and 31.3 GHz. MMDS, operating in the 2.4 GHz band, was originally introduced as a means of distributing television, usually analogue and limited to the downstream transmission path. Following a relaxation of FCC rules, the US MMDS spectrum is now available for two-way connection for Internet and other services. Adaptive Broadband has recently developed an MMDS variant of its AB-Access system.

In the US, commercial BWA systems using all three bands are either operating or in the initial stages of deployment. The no licence fee, turn up and go attributes of the U-NII band are providing a particular attraction, and Adaptive Broadband has signed a number of major deals covering the supply of its U-NII-compatible AC-Access equipment. These include a $100-million five-year contract with I3S based in Irving, Texas, that will supply high-speed Internet access to more than 20 million homes in apartment buildings across 48 US states; a $20-million deal with Fuzion Technologies in Boca Raton, Florida, to supply business users with Internet access speeds of up to 25Mbps, and a purchase agreement for an undisclosed sum, with US WEST, the Denver-based Regional Bell operating company.

In India, VSNL enjoyed a monopoly since it started operations in 1995. It is only now, following the deregulation of ISP in November 1998 that hundreds of private ISPs have jumped into the field within a year.

Indian ISPs depend upon access as the core of their business and revenue earner. This will continue until the market matures and new/existing players take up the route of bandwidth selling. In the access market some sort of segmentation is taking place with companies like Dishnet using high-speed access like DSL in the country. Some experiments are going on with cable and other high-speed media. Dishnet DSL, Pune has done some experiments with cable.

Dr P Venkateswarlu