Mobile WiMAX Spotlight on India
21 Nov 2008

With a number of companies moving ahead with investments on rolling out Mobile WiMAX in India and the stage being set for the auction of prime 2.5 Ghz spectrum in the next quarter, the spotlight is now India.

The Indian mobile sector has proved its mettle with a monthly growth figure of 8-9 million customers a month even in difficult economic conditions. The base of subscribers, now standing at 300 million is set to double in the next three years to over 600 million customers. All this is happening with serious gaffes in spectrum allocation.

The stage is now set for the auction of 2G and Mobile WiMAX 2.5 G spectrum and that is what is set to be yet another inflection point in the fastest growing telecom market in the world. With the 2.5 G spectrum falling under the ambit of IMT2000, the battle for the spectrum is set to be keen.

In a separate decision, the government has decided to take away the 3.4-3.6 GHz spectrum away from existing applications such as satellite TV. This is again set to be allocated to users for WiMAX and broadband applications.

With the agenda for WiMAX set for India, Sprint Nextel, which has already launched Mobile WiMAX services in Baltimore has announced its intention of launching WiMAX consultancy in India. As per Barry West president of XOHM, the time is right for such a move as companies in India gear up for a new ecosystem of networks and devices targeting the mobile world with a new technology.
In a similar development Intel has also revealed its plans for investing in the Indian WiMAX story. Known for its investment of $1 billion in Sprint’s XOHM network, Intel is set to be a prime beneficiary of growth in consumer devices and its chipsets. The Indian effort is being spearheaded by Mr Sriram Vishwanathan, General manager for the WiMAX program who has voiced his optimism for the technology in no uncertain terms.“ It is for the first time that India will be able to take a lead in technology evolution. The country presents a phenomenal opportunity for WiMAX.”
Not to be left behind, vendors such as Samsung and Motorola, which have been prime drivers of the Korean WiBrO and XOHM in USA with WIMAX modems, chipsets, USB cards and mobile devices have decided to give a new thrust to their presence in India. Motorola already has successful deployment in Pakistan ( Wateen Telecom) and is set to expand its presence in the region. For Samsung, known for its advanced handsets and leading presence in the WiMAX segment, India today presents the right time, opportunity and scale of growth as per the sentiments expressed by Mr Paul Thurneysen, responsible for 4G/ WiMAX business lines.
The deck is now cleared for the next stage i.e. the auctions which will determine which companies can go ahead with their investment plans.

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3G and WiMAX auction IM released!
The Department of Telecom has today released the Information memorandum setting in motion the process of 3G and Broadbandband spectrum auction. The document is available on the DOT website ( http://www.dot.gov.in/as/Auctionindex.htm) The start of the 3G auction is from 16 Jan 2009 and the BWA auction begins two days after the closure of the 3G auction.

For WiMAX, the spectrum will be auctioned in the 2.3 and 2.5 GHz bands. Three blocks of 20 MHz are on the block for auction. The exact frequncies vary from service area. For Delhi and Mumbai these are as follows:

2305.0-2325.0 MHz
2327.5-2347.5 MHz
2535-2555 MHz

Spectrum in the 2635-2655 MHz band with 20 MHz bandwidth has been assigned to MTNL in Delhi and
Mumbai and to BSNL in all the service areas except three service areas where they have been assigned spectrum
in FDD mode.

The elgibility requirement is to be ( or become) a Class A ISP, or a Universal Access Service Provider ( UAS) or a Cellular Mobile Service Provider ( CMTS).
DoT guidelines stipulate that a UAS licence can only be awarded to an Indian Company. Hence, foreign applicants will need to form an Indian subsidiary to obtain the UAS licence. However they are allowed to participate
in the Auctions directly, and apply for a licence subsequently.ISPs as per present policy can have FDI upto 74%.

There is a rollout obligation of coverage of 90% of service area within 5 years.

In addition to the money paid for auction there is an annnual charge of 3% of adjusted gross revenues (AGR). In cse of BWA ( WiMAX) the revenues to be counted include those from VoIP, IPTV and regular internat access.

The license will be vaild for 15 years.

More on this later..

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