Currently, there are more than 500 fixed and mobile WiMAX trials and commercial deployments happening in 147 countries, a top ranking Intel executive cited at a briefing for Asian journalists gathered here recently to witness the launch of Taiwan’s VMAX Telecom 4G WiMAX technology service in this country.
Through the 4G WiMAX technology, VMAX expects to improve the quality of life and work efficiency of the Taiwanese, and to make Taipei a world-leading 4G WiMAX technology city.
Rama Shukla, Vice President, Intel Architecture Group and Director, WiMAX Program Office, Intel Corporation, began with UQ Communications, Inc.’s launch of its WiMAX service in July 2009 in the eastern region of Japan including areas of Tokyo, Yokohama, Kawasaki, Nagoya and Osaka.
He reported UQ’s WiMAX service has made it possible for users to enjoy Webcasts and On-line videos, listen to streaming music and enjoy a wireless Internet experience that rivals their wired home broadband connection in speed – while opening the door to a whole new variety of wireless devices and applications.
As a sign of things to come, he added, seven computer manufacturers there have already certified multiple Intel-based laptop models with embedded WiMAX chipsets for UQ’s network.
In Malaysia, he narrated, Packet One Networks became the country’s first WiMAX operator to launch a commercial network and recently celebrated its first anniversary with a milestone of 130,000 new subscribers.
Amidst the global financial crisis, Packet One grew its number of new subscribers by 44 percent – from 25,000 new subscribers in the second quarter of 2009, to more than 36,000 in the third quarter, he reported.
On the other side of the world, Russian incumbent Scartel offers their Yota service to support a wide range of access devices meeting the needs of 250,000 WiMAX network subscribers, he continued. These include WiMAX compatible laptops, mobile phones, USB modems and dongles.
He cited, “Before the Yota service became available, mobile Internet access in Russia was slow, expensive, and not widely deployed. Perhaps the most potent sign of the power of WiMAX to stimulate the knowledge economy: Scartel reports that the average data consumption of a Yota subscriber is more than twice the average of a wired Internet subscriber in Moscow.”
Intel officials gathered here believed 2010 will see many exciting deployments across Asia-Pacific, including Taiwan and India.
For instance, VMAX Telecom launched its commercial WiMAX service in February in Taipei. This will provide coverage for 70 percent of the city’s population through an initial deployment of 200-250 base stations. The network is set to provide consumer Internet services and consumer mobile data services, but will also offer enterprise services as well.
In India, "making rural communities digitally inclusive" is the mantra at Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd. (BSNL), India’s state-operated telecommunications company, in adopting WiMAX technology as part of its Providing Urban Amenities to Rural Areas (PURA) program. To help achieve this vision, Shukla reported.
BSNL plans to execute a phased WiMAX deployment. It has a goal to serve 250,000 rural WiMAX subscribers across 80,000 villages in the first phase of its rural project, whilst adding a further 1.1 million rural subscribers in 675,000 villages as part of its phase two rollout.
Through BSNL’s WiMAX service, India’s rural populace will have access to a wide range of services that were previously out of reach, such as long distance education, telemedicine, e-governance as well as important access to fair pricing information for agricultural produce.
In Brazil, Embratel’s WiMAX network is expected to cover 200 cities within the next five years. Globe Telecoms, operator of the largest WiMAX network in South-East Asia, is focused on making affordable mobile WiMAX accessible for most of Philippines’ 92 million people.
WiMAX is the first and only fourth generation (4G) technology available today and ready to meet this shift towards the mobile Internet.
WiMAX offers flexible business opportunities to network providers, meaning faster speeds and lower cost for their customers. It readily delivers two to four times the performance of today’s 3G solutions, with the ability to scale to 10 times its current level of performance via 802.16m, the next version of the standard upon which WiMAX is based.
The limitations of third generation technology or 3G – network technology that has evolved from older, more traditional networks built mainly for voice services – are especially evident as mobile data networks become increasingly congested.
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Autor(en)/Author(s): Edison Ong
Quelle/Source: Manila Bulletin, 14.03.2010
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