"Legacy systems were providing line-of-sight connectivity with a very low spectral efficiency," said Paul Senior, Airspan's CTO. "Our new WiMAX solution solves these problems and significantly increases the coverage and capacity." The company said its new product offering includes a MicroMAX Base Station model and subscriber units in the EasyST, ProST, and ProST-Wi-Fi families.

While WiMAX Forum has not blessed the lower spectrum with a coveted certification profile, countries with an existing allocation at 1.5 GHz could realize several benefits. "For example, there is a range increase of about 40 percent for 1.5 GHz compared to operating at 2.5 GHz that translates to half the number of base stations required for the same coverage area," adds Senior. Re-use of existing allocations for broadband and voice services provides a boost for the entire ecosystem.

By Jeff Orr, ORR Technology, LLC

Performing a task efficiently or enabling new functionality is fundamental to emerging communications technology. Compelling applications are driving the adoption of mobile technology as they have for desktop computing. An application determined to be core to the success of a service or hardware platform is commonly referred to as a "killer app". For cell phones, the killer application has been a high-quality voice phone service without restriction to location. The first attraction to mobile broadband was open Internet access becoming available anytime and anywhere. That was Mobile Broadband Killer App 1.0. As adoption of mobile broadband continues to rise, what applications will lead to continued growth?

VoIP use on a mobile broadband device is both an opportunity and a concern for the global telecommunications market. Proponents are looking for ways to lower customer costs associated with voice and data services. VoIP operates as an application over an Internet-connected device. Opponents fear a competitive service that impacts their core revenues from voice minutes. Newer mobile operators, such as Hutchison 3G UK (known as "3"), that don't have the legacy cell phone baggage of their competitors saw the opportunity to deliver voice using VoIP. The operator offers mobile phones that use the Skype voice application over a 3G connection.

The South Korean government is considering permitting voice communication over broadband wireless networks. Officials have expressed concern that the WiMAX-powered WiBro service has not exceeded subscriber adoption goals due to a lack of "killer application". VoIP could be the catalyst that permits consumers to converge mobile voice and data needs into a single handheld device instead of carrying a cell phone along with a separate data-centric unit. A researcher with Korea's Information Society Development (KISDI) mentioned that lowering mobile phone call rates is being studied along with the concept of issuing voice numbers for WiBro subscribers. WiBro operators KT and SK Telecom could find themselves mobile virtual network operators (MVNOs) as soon as this year if the proposal gains government approval. A final report with recommendations from KISDI is expected by October.

While voice phone service on a mobile device is borrowed from the success of the cellular phone, it provides new opportunity to combine the frequency of voice and data communications into a single platform, which cannot be accomplished on existing data-constrained cellular networks. First generation mobile broadband systems that offer data services on-the-go are evolving to provide greater functionality, making VoIP the second killer application for mobile broadband.

By Jeff Orr

ORR Technology, LLC
 

Redline Communications Group Inc. and Sify Technologies Limited announced that Redline's RedMAX products have been selected for a multi-city business-to-business WiMAX network in India. Sify has deployed business-class Internet services using Redline's fixed wireless products in Delhi and Mumbai.

Sify has also begun its WiMAX network expansion to Bangalore, Hyderabad and Chennai. "The launch of our WiMAX services in these five cities will further our mission of being an enabler and catalyst of the Internet for positive change in India," said Arvind Mathur, Chief Architect, Sify Technologies Limited. The incremental regions are scheduled for completion by the end of the year.

Connecting India's masses is a popular government initiative where a goal of 20 million broadband users by 2010 is in place. Tata Communications (formerly known as VSNL) announced it plans to blanket 115 cities with consumer WiMAX services using Telsima radio gear by March 2009. Bharti Airtel, state-owned BSNL (with a focus on rural and small town coverage) has partnered with SOMA Networks, and government telco MTNL have also announced Indian WiMAX plans.

The new wireless network is intended to deliver reliable, managed last mile solutions to enterprise customers that support business critical applications over Sify's IP-MPLS network. Enterprise customers include banks, manufacturers, retailers and other enterprises that require reliable and secure communications networks.

The operator will use Redline's RedMAX products operating in the 3.3~3.4 GHz frequency band. Decision criteria for the WiMAX equipment included WiMAX Forum certification, high subscriber capacity, support for Service Level Agreements (SLAs), security and cost-effectiveness.

India has an estimated population of 1.148 billion with only 60 million Internet subscribers (5.2% penetration). India's TRAI telecom regulator recently reported that 3.13 million citizens have broadband Internet access. Visiting local Internet cafés (many of which are operated by Sify) for email, VoIP, and even web conferencing is an increasingly popular activity. India is one of four emerging markets for broadband wireless communications, often abbreviated as BRIC (Brazil, Russia, India, and China). The BRIC countries are some of the most populous in the world, while also representing the least "connected" societies for Internet access and communications.

By Jeff Orr, ORR Technology, LLC