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BWA is used by carriers to provide telecom
services to end-users such as small & medium enterprises and residential
consumers. Those services include: High Speed internet, Telephony, VPNs,
Intranets, leased lines, etc. BWA competes against other broadband
access technologies such as cable and DSL.
From a regulatory standpoint, 3.5GHz
remains the most popular frequency band for BWA services with licenses
granted in the following countries: Australia, China, Malaysia, Sri
Lanka, New Zealand, Indonesia. 10.5GHz has so far been less of a
frequency of choice but India and the Phillipines have granted licenses
in this band. Most Asian countries allow access or backhaul in the 900
MHz, 2.4GHz and 5.7GHz bands. In China however 5.8GHz requires a license
to provide BWA services (see Figure 1).
The greatest advantage of unlicensed bands
is that operators do not require a specific license to operate a network
in the spectrum. While this can significantly reduce the costs
associated with a wireless network and reduce the time it takes an
operator to open up shop, it leads to congestion, sometimes severe.
Key advantages
Broadband wireless access technology has
not proliferated as was expected by proponents. Systems were based on
proprietary technologies, tying service providers to just one equipment
vendor. The effect of this is that no individual system was able to gain
share and reduce production costs.
In early 2003, the Institute of Electrical
& Electronics Engineers (IEEE), responsible for setting global
communications standards, approved the 802.16 Wireless MAN (Air
interface for Fixed Broadband Wireless Access Systems) interface
communications protocol, which uses the 2 to 11 megahertz frequencies.
However, the practicality of the standard
was limited by the fact that there were neither test specifications nor
conformance statements established yet. That is why in order to ensure
interoperability between vendors competing in the same market, the WiMAX
(Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access) technical working
groups were created by the leaders in IEEE 802.16 technology.
Issuing a “WiMAX Certified” label will
serve as a seal of approval that a particular vendor’s system or
component fully corresponds to the technological specifications set
forth by the new Wireless MAN protocol. That will in turn reduce
customers’ confusion.
Both proprietary and “Wimax “ vendors are
innovating to provide new, higher performance, less expensive systems as
well as assisting their customers with business plan validation.
Cost advantages
Wireline options can be costly. Only
larger enterprises can afford to pay $1,000+ per month to lease a
45-Mbit/sec connection. While purchasing T1 lines at $300 per month can
be an option for some medium-sized enterprises, most small businesses
and residential customers are still confined to dialup Internet access.
Where available, DSL and cable modem offer a more affordable solution
for data. However, these technologies are difficult and time-consuming
to implement for the following reasons:
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There’s not enough fiber: still only
reaches a fraction of the users demanding large-bandwidth,
high-reliability connections- Fiber also requires costly additional
electronic equipment on both sides.
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XDSL: efficiency is limited by distance
to the central office and the quality of copper.
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Cable modems. the bandwidth is shared by
a number of subscribers and the service deteriorates as more residents
go online. In addition, the installed base of cables passes through
residential areas and not through business regions.
In rural and underserved markets, these
wireline choices are simply not available as an option.
In current commercial deployments,
broadband wireless networks can deliver more bandwidth than traditional
copper cables and are cheaper and faster to deploy. Historically, many
operators worldwide have used broadband wireless technologies (namely
point-to-point or PTP radios) as a proven, service provider class method
of connecting long-haul networks. PTP technologies have also been used
for access in isolated cases with mixed results. With
point-to-multipoint (PMP) BWA, service providers will be able to provide
broadband services over large geographic areas with greater flexibility
and improved economies of scale.
Asia Pacific Priorities
However, no technology - wireless or
wireline - will ever be successful unless it meets market needs.
Regionally, there are specific market patters around the world. For
example, in Asia Pacific, the majority of the population lives in Multi
Dwelling Units. This is a natural service model for BWA . A service
provider can use BWA products in either a point-to-multipoint (PMP) or
point-to-point (PTP) mode to deliver multiple megabits of traffic to a
building.
This same service architecture can be used
with multi-tenant units (MTUs) to deliver voice, video and data services
to small/medium enterprises (SMEs). In this context, the cost of the
customer premise hardware and installation is more quickly amortized by
the service provider who can generate revenue streams from various
subscribers sharing the same device. These BWA networks will likely use
licensed bands to guarantee carrier class services. The “pipe” can then
be distributed within the buildings either using WiFi, Ethernet or
copper via a mini-DSLAM.
Deployment experiences
For service providers to deliver the
bandwidth and associated services in a profitable way using BWA
equipment, they need to consider a combination of factors, depending on
the environment in which they operate and whom they’re competing
against. In a rural environment, there is often no other broadband
alternative than wireless. There the current generation equipment is
pretty much doing the job, even though cheaper equipment resulting from
standardization will always help. In a more competitive environment, in
order for BWA to become a viable alternative to DSL or cable it needs,
above all, true Plug & Play capabilities--avoiding the associated costs
of truck rolls--and true non-line-of-sight capabilities within a decent
radius (eight miles or more) of the base station.
802.16 a/d does not need a line of sight
between the base station and terminal. Where there is no direct line of
sight, such as in cities, the signal broadcast in the direction of the
terminal is bounced off obstacles (such as building walls) to reach its
final destination. These products will support distances of up to 50
kilometers (30 miles), supporting spectral efficiencies of up to 5
bps/Hz. With frequency reuse, base stations can support hundreds of
megabits per second (Mbps) of link capacity to service hundreds of
business and residential customers.
IEEE 802.16 products are in the early
phases of commercial development. Initial trial deployments are expected
to take place during the second half of 2004.
Regional deployments
Nevertheless, there is considerable
regional activity in BWA with most countries participating in some form,
although specific implementations and penetration vary widely. Australia
and New Zealand are the most active markets outside China and Japan for
BWA. Korea has bet a lot on various forms of DSL and is the country with
the most broadband connections worldwide. New countries will begin
allocating spectrum for BWA, such as India, where Alvarion will be
deploring 10.5GHz systems throughout the country.
China has emphasized ADSL and allowed its
top two fixed-line phone companies, China Telecom and China Netcom,
spend hundreds of millions of dollars to build up their ADSL networks
over the last two years. The number of broadband subscribers in China
has grown from less than one million at the end of 2001 to about 10
million at the end of 2003, with an estimated 70-80% of those on ADSL.
But in the BWA space, there have been two waves of 3.5GHz licenses in
China in the 2000-2003 period. In 2000, 5 licenses were granted in 5
cities followed by 32 cities in 2003. The Chinese regulator is currently
granting licenses in 300 additional cities.
The main applications driving the Chinese
market are:
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Telephone Bar
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Internet Cafes
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Medical Insurance Network System
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Demand for E1 trunk for enterprise PBX
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Demand for Ethernet interface to
enterprise LANs
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Bank private access system
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Demand for E1 trunking for mobile
internetworking
Case Study: Woosh Wireless, New Zealand
A significant case study for BWA may be
becoming apparent in New Zealand. Woosh Wireless was founded in 1999 as
Walker Wireless, and is now backed by leading New Zealand investors,
Clarity Partners (US), and Vodafone. It was awarded 60 MHz of national
frequencies in 2001 (2050-2080 MHz and 2150-2180MHz) and is probably the
first operator globally to announce national deployment of TD-CDMA
technology, (see Figure 2)
Woosh is in the Process of Deploying a
National TD-CDMA Network using IP Wireless equipment and commercial
services were launched in September 2003 with 10% of New Zealand Pops
covered. By end-2004 - approximately 80 Sites will provide near
ubiquitous coverage of Auckland (almost 1 million POPs) and coverage
will also begin of Christchurch, Wellington, and rural regional award
area
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Woosh offers multiple service plans on
the network ranging up to 512kbps
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Base plan is twice as fast as DSL and
same price (flat rate pricing)
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All plans include free metro roaming in
Auckland
We believe that the key lessons from
Woosh’s TD-CDMA deployment are: there is pent-up demand for the service
with actual customer demand shown in the first 8 weeks of commercial
service with nearly 10% of Auckland households posting enquries on the
Woosh web site. Subscribers appear to like the service and Woosh has
reached the 1% penetration level of covered households. An estimated 50%
of new broadband customers are in the coverage area. Some 30% of
subscribers use laptop access. Finally, the launch seems to prove that
TD-CDMA networks and devices are not only market ready, but can go head
to head with DSL and in fact win.
Conclusion
A lack of healthy competition and market
complexity have combined to hold back standards-based development and
mass rollout. Varying frequency regulations from country to country, for
example, have led equipment manufacturers to use only proprietary air
interface technologies. This in turn has inevitably led to the evolution
of multi-vendor networks over time as networks continue to grow.
With the advent of WiMAX Forum Certified
products, individual base stations will be able to support hundreds of
products from different vendors. This means, that Asian service
providers will enjoy the most effective wireless infrastructure for
broadband data services, including fixed (permanent), nomadic (portable)
and eventually, mobile (fully transportable signal delivery). WiMAX
standard will allow Asian BWA operators to provide triple play services
with cheaper and more performance equipment supported by one single
label.
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