Blog entries in catagory: Deployments
Libya Telecom and Technology Awards Mobile WiMAX Contract to Alcatel-Lucent
Libya’s national ISP to launch commercial 802.16e-2005 network services this September.
Alcatel-Lucent announced that it has been awarded
a contract by Libya Telecom and Technology (LTT), the national Internet Service
Provider in Libya, to deploy the first commercial WIMAX network based on the
802.16e-2005 WiMAX standard in the Great Socialist People's Libyan Arab
Jamahiriya. LTT plans to launch commercial network services this September.
The new network will support voice over IP (VoIP) and high-speed internet
access, enabling the delivery of advanced broadband multimedia services, such as
video streaming, through a variety of end-user devices including modems and
WiMAX terminals. It will also accommodate stationary, nomadic and mobile
applications and complement LTT's existing fixed-based broadband services.
"We want to provide our residential and business customers a wide range of
beneficial, easy-to-use wireless broadband services," said Abdul Majeed Husain,
Planning and Projects department Manager of LTT. "Alcatel-Lucent's WiMAX
solution will enable us to better serve customers in major urban centers such as
Tripoli."
Alcatel-Lucent will provide an end-to-end WiMAX infrastructure solution,
including the radio access network, microwave backhaul and IP routers and will
deploy around 120 sites during the first phase. Device and terminal vendor
selections are at the discretion of LTT. Alcatel-Lucent has identified several
partners in its Open WiMAX CPE (customer premise equipment) initiative capable
of interoperating with the provider's infrastructure.
WiMAX is seen as a valuable tool for rapidly and cost-effectively increasing
penetration of high-speed Internet access in economies such as Libya's. The
North African country is home to an estimated 6.17 million citizens and covers a
land mass of about 1.76 million km2. Libya has approximately 232,000 Internet
users, according to a September 2007 ITU report.
By Jeff Orr
ORR Technology, LLC
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Northern Italy and Island of Fiji to Receive WiMAX Networks
US$12 million order for 802.16-2004 base stations propels Newport Digital Technologies and Gil Technologies into new markets.
Taiwan's Institute for Information Industry (III) and Newport Digital Technologies (NDT) announced that it is deploying a WiMAX network in Northern Italy and in Fiji. The first $1 million of the $12 million order of WiMAX IEEE 802.16-2004 base stations started shipping immediately with the balance to be delivered over the next 11 calendar months.III is consulting on the transaction for the base station and will utilize its contributions to 802.16-2004/e-2005/j/m to assist in the capacity as System Integrator and technology contributor for NDT and Gil Technologies, the Taiwan Base Station hardware manufacturer.
The Republic of the Fiji Islands occupies about 18,274 square kilometers, or approximately the size of the State of New Jersey. The islands are home to a population of 918,675. Fiji had approximately 80,000 Internet users of which 7,000 were broadband subscribers, according to a September 2007 ITU report.
"The support we have and will continue to receive from III is instrumental in securing large deployment contracts as a result of III's expertise in 802.16d/e/j/m," said Vincent Chen, Vice President of Gil Technologies.
"We shipped out the first of three shipments that will go out this quarter which will represent close to $3 million in sales for us of WiMAX base stations this quarter," said Mr. Richard Damian of Newport Digital Technologies.
By Jeff Orr
ORR Technology, LLC
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WiMAX to reach 25% of Malaysia's Population by Year-end
Delays in WiMAX Forum certification testing slow roll-out by operators, says government regulator.
Malaysia's Bernama news service reports that the country's government remains optimistic about significant WiMAX access by the end of this year despite industry delays in achieving certification products and a reluctance by the licensed operators to collaborate with each other. The update this week comes from the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC) who sees the near-term opportunity continuing to outpace the immediate bumps in the road.
MCMC chairman Datuk Dr Halim Shafie explained the snag has been felt at a global level and is not specific to his country's capability or effort to deploy mobile WiMAX (IEEE802.16e-2005) technologies. The chairman is referring to the recent WiMAX Forum announcement that products using the 2.5 GHz spectrum have not yet achieved certification by three or more vendors. The certification testing started last December when equipment companies were given the go-ahead to submit radios. At a WiMAX Forum trade show earlier this month in Asia, the industry trade association announced that four vendors had achieved WiMAX Forum Certified products, but they were specific to the 2.3 GHz WiBro profile available only in South Korea.
The 2.5 GHz spectrum profile is considered to be the "sweet spot" for many of the world's initial deployments for mobile WiMAX, including Japan, Taiwan, and the United States. Apparently, Malaysian operators have elected to start deployments once certified equipment becomes available. The WiMAX Forum estimated a couple more months before they could appear and an undetermined duration thereafter before products reach mass production.
The MCMC is considering the possibility of extending the deadline for WiMAX service availability, but stated that it needs to study the situation. The MCMC had issued a firm statement earlier in the year that licensed operators needed to make every effort possible to deploy or face losing their license and investment.
Four network operators have WiMAX licenses in Malaysia. Asiaspace Dotcom, Green Packet, REDtone International, and YTL e-Solutions were each awarded licenses last year. The MCMC has been encouraging the four to collaborate and work together to meet deadlines. "We are trying to encourage them to share but they are not too keen. They want to do it on their own," said Halim.
Halim said that Green Packet plans to roll out its service in June using non-certified or proprietary radio kit and plans to adopt the certified WiMAX infrastructure once available. "Green Packet wants to be early in the market. They will use whatever technology they have first and then when WiMAX comes in, they will upgrade to it," he said.
By Jeff Orr
ORR Technology, LLC
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WiMAX Providing Universal Internet
City officials face obstacles while trying to provide municipal internet and are looking to WiMAX as the solution.
In order to serve poor neighborhoods and the community at large,
hundreds of cities including Hartford, Philadelphia, Houston, and San
Francisco have attempted to build a free or inexpensive Wi-Fi system.
"The motivation to provide universal Internet access lies in a simple
fact — poorer urban residents often cannot afford the average $50 a
month fee charged by cable companies and other providers. In Hartford,
only 25 percent of the city’s households have an Internet connection,
compared to 75 percent in surrounding suburbs."
While Wi-Fi has been working great in most downtown areas where
antennas and computers are in close proximity but the Wi-Fi signal is
not strong enough to cover a wide area or penetrate through brick
apartment buildings. Wi-Fi systems have not been delivering on its
promised performance. Hartford officials have been forced to put its
municipal internet project on hold and hope WiMAX will serve as an
alternative.
According to Jack McCoy, chief information officer for Manchester and a
member of the newly created Connecticut Broadband Coordinating Council,
“WiMAX could run a citywide network. The concern is it could run into
opposition from cable companies and other providers.”
Ari Zoldan
Launch 3 Communications
Taiwan WiMAX carrier consortium formed
Four of the nation's six operators join forces to accelerate WiMAX deployment and services across Taiwan.
Four of Taiwan's operators who received WiMAX licenses last year - First International Telecom (Fitel), Global Mobile, Tatung Telecom and Vastar Cable TV System - have formed the Consortium of Mobile Broadband (CMB). The group intends to foster the development of Taiwan's developing WiMAX industry. Executives from Acer and Quanta Computer attended the announcement ceremony in a show of support for the movement.
Collaboration and cooperation is beneficial for the growth of WiMAX in Taiwan. Establishing a framework for base station sharing and improving communications with Taiwan's regulators and government officials are two agenda items the group intends to tackle. Rosemary Ho, chairperson of Global Mobile, has been elected to serve as chairperson of the CMB.
A pair of Taiwan's computing leaders, Acer and Quanta Computer, pledged their support for the operator initiative. Acer chairman JT Wang described the benefits of WiMAX being an open standard and as a growth driver for the PC industry. Quanta Computer vice chairman CC Leung expressed similar sentiments for the rapid WiMAX industry development in Taiwan.
The Taiwanese government issued six regional WiMAX licenses to operators in 2007. Three of the licenses are for North Taiwan, while the other three cover South Taiwan. Other telecom operators and the remaining two WiMAX licensees in Taiwan - Far EasTone Telecommunications (FET) and WiMAX Telecom - will be invited to join the CMB in the future.
By Jeff Orr
ORR Technology, LLC
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MSS Povolzhie chooses Proxim for broadband wireless network in Russia’s Samara region
Operator picks proprietary system instead of WiMAX for affordable broadband access to 32 million residents
WiMAX industry insiders might feel that 802.16 technologies are the
greatest thing to happen since sliced bread, but it hasn't stopped
network operators from selecting vendor-proprietary solutions or
growing existing pre-WiMAX deployments. Proxim Wireless announced that
its Russia partners RK Telecom and Geyser have secured a contracted to
supply the company's Tsunami MP.11 5054 radios to MSS Povolzhie for a
wireless network in the Samara region.
MSS Povolzhie is an Internet service provider and subsidiary of
Megafon. The network will enable broadband Internet access for a
population of over 32 million residents as well as businesses in a
2,500 square kilometer region. Prior to the installation of the Proxim
network, the residents of Sberbank, Nafta and Lukoil in the Samara
region had no broadband access to the Internet. The provider plans to
offer broadband data and VoIP connectivity.
The Tsunami MP.11 family of point-to-multipoint
radios launched before 802.16-based equipment was certifiable. The
system uses a proprietary routing protocol to provide Proxim does offer
a WiMAX Forum Certified base station at 3.5 GHz called Tsunami MP.16,
along with non-certified CPE. A unique model of the CPE family is a
subscriber station that also integrates a multi-radio Wi-Fi mesh access point for municipal wireless applications.
Why was WiMAX not selected for this deployment? Megafon required a wide
frequency range - 5.15 to 6.08GHz - and channel sizes of 5, 10, and 20
MHz. A 5.8 GHz certification profile from WiMAX Forum exists using the
802.16-2004 standard and only 10 MHz channels, but no products have
attempted certification. Quality of Service (QoS) methods, like those
found in the 802.16 specifications, were also required; a capability
that Proxim touts as equivalent on Tsunami MP.11 to functionality found
in real WiMAX products.
By Jeff Orr
ORR Technology, LLC
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RACSA to reach +75,000 WiMAX Subscribers in Costa Rica by 2011.
Maravedis interview with WiMAX Operator RCSA in Costa Rica
By Cintia Garza, Market Analyst
Contact the author at cintia@maravedis-bwa.com
Radiografica Costarricense S.A (RACSA), a subsidiary of state-owned Instituto Costarricense de Electricidad (ICE) in Costa Rica, owns a nationwide license in the 3.5GHz frequency band with 100MHz of spectrum. On August 2007, RACSA awarded a contract to Alvarion for the supply of 4MotionTM solution product range to provide extended wireless access services in several major cities in Costa Rica. As of April 2008 they have installed 14 WiMAX base stations in the Greater Metropolitan Areas of Costa Rica, covering the cities of San Jose, Alajuela, Cartago and Heredia, with an initial investment of US$3 million. Commercial service plans are available for 512Kbps (29 dlls) and 2Mbps (144 dlls). The service is offered under the name of Evoluciona. The network will be capable of carrying 20,000 broadband connections. The company expects to reach 75,000 WiMAX Subscribers by 2011. Click to read the interview…
Maravedis: What is your current WiMAX network status and development?
At this moment we are still in the implementation stage. We are currently installing 14 base stations; we expect to finalize setting up all the infrastructure in one month and a half. We initially bought 1,000 CPEs from Alvarion, because we thought the process of selling the service was going to be slow, however in the first week we sold all the CPEs. There was very good market acceptance of the technology, so we placed a new order and we are expecting to receive 4,000 additional CPEs in a couple of weeks. We have a customer waiting list of approximately 3,500 for the service.
We are quite happy since we haven’t invested in marketing campaigns or advertising. The service is selling itself, just from mouth to mouth communication. We started offering the service in urban areas, even where we have competing technologies such as ADSL and Cable. The service has been very well accepted.
After this stage is completed, we will decide on whether we will expand our network nationwide, addressing also the underserved and rural areas of Costa Rica, or if we will offer the service in the same coverage area that we have now, but with more base stations that support portability and mobility. We are looking at how the technology will evolve to support mobile services in the 3.5GHz band.
At this moment the focus is on fixed services to offer a good Quality of Service (QoS) and also have a larger number of cells. In the next step we will introduce portability; base stations will be installed every 3 - 4Km, and in the last stage (which is mobility) our base stations would be installed every 1 – 1.5km. Our spectrum in the 3.5GHz has a limitation in terms of the distance that can be reached, that’s why we will need a large number of base stations to guarantee the user speeds of 4Mbps, 6Mbps and 8Mbps in the future.
Maravedis: What growth do you anticipate by the end of the year 2008 in terms of the number of subscribers?
Our current network has a capacity to serve 20,000 users. We expect that by the end of the year we could reach some 8,000 subscribers, or probably more. The main limitation for us is the time required for installation. At RACSA, we have 10 installation teams, each team can install two or three CPEs per day; we will definitely need a larger staff and number of technicians to satisfy a bigger demand.
Maravedis: Talking about the CPEs, every operator is adopting a different strategy to deal with the high cost of the CPE. What is the current cost of the CPE and how much do you anticipate this cost could decrease? What strategy are you following to offer the CPE to your clients?
Currently the cost of the CPE is around US$500. We expected the cost of the CPE would decrease faster, but the decrease has been slow. We expect the cost of the CPE by the end of this year could reach the US$300 – US$350, but the hope of the CPE at US$100 is something that will not occur in the short term. The final user has the option of buying the CPE or paying a monthly fee for the use of the CPE. We are charging US$6 a month.
Maravedis: And in which cities or areas are you commercial with WiMAX?
In the Greater Metropolitan Areas of Costa Rica, which consists of 4 provinces: San Jose, Cártago, Alajuela and Heredia.
Maravedis: Could you please describe the service plans that RACSA is offering?
Yes, we are offering 3 services plans:
Evoluciona Basic: Speeds of 256kbps/512Kbps at US$29.
Evoluciona Plus: Speeds of 1Mbps/512Kbps at US$74
Evoluciona Premium: Speeds of 2Mbps/1Mbps at US$244
These prices do not include the rental of the equipment, which is around US$ 6-7 per month, plus installation fee of US$100.
Maravedis: Are you planning to partner with other equipment vendors when you offer mobility?
Yes, actually the contracts to equipment vendors are awarded by a beauty contest process. In our first stage we awarded the contract to Alvarion, and we recently extended this contract for additional US$1 million to buy new CPEs. Our law allows us to partially extend the contracts with our equipment vendors for up to $US1 million. If we want to sign bigger contracts we need to incur in another beauty contest. We are currently having talks with Alvarion, Aperto, Motorola and other equipment vendors for the next contract to offer mobility.
RACSA chose Alvarion solution with TDD (Time Division Duplexing) with the capacity to manage fixed and mobile systems. Through a software upgrade RACSA will be able to migrate the fixed subscribers to mobile. We expect to use this software upgrade during 2009; we are just waiting for the mobile equipment to be available.
Maravedis: I was reading the notes of an interview you previously had with Telesemana where you commented you expected to reach some 75,000 WiMAX subscribers in 4 years. What will be your strategy to reach this target and to accelerate the subscriber growth?
The strategy is to use a “Fideicomiso”. Under the Fideicomiso we will start an agreement with an International Bank. We will provide them with the network specifications and they will finance the project, they will buy the infrastructure and they will install the network. RACSA will just act as an administrator. The Bank will also select the equipment vendors.
Maravedis: Are you addressing the residential segment, the business segment or both?
Initially, our idea was to offer the service to the SME and SOHO; however we have experienced a great demand from the residential segment. We still offer the service to both business and residential users; however the split right now is around 95% residential.
Maravedis: Besides Internet access, which other applications are you offering or planning to offer in the future?
We are currently offering VPN services to SME. We are about to start some trials with voice and we will be eventually offering VoIP….
The complete version of the interview is available to WiMAXCounts™ subscribers only. The details include spectrum info, WiMAX subscriber numbers, subscriber split (residential & enterprise), ARPU, total base stations deployed along with breakdown by vendor and standard type, total CPEs deployed along with breakdown by vendor and standard type, competitive advantage, plus additional information.
For more information about this an other WiMAX Operators, please visit www.wimaxcounts.com
For more information you can contact the author: cintia@maravedis-bwa.com
Copyright © 2007 by Maravedis Inc. All Rights Reserved.
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UTStarcom and Motorola help First International Telecom build Taiwan WiMAX network
Vision of city-wide mobile wireless communications network one step closer to reality in Taipei.
Motorola and its partner UTStarcom are working
with First International Telecom (Fitel), a telecom operator in Taiwan, to
deploy a mobile WiMAX network based on the IEEE802.16e-2005 standard as a part
of the operator's commitment to the M-Taiwan project.
"The next generation personal wireless broadband service will enable rich media
entertainment and high-speed data applications to be delivered to our customers.
The new network will expand our service offerings and is critical to our future
business growth," said Charlie Wu, president of Fitel. Fitel received its
operator license to provide WiMAX services for northern Taiwan in July 2007. The
carrier currently provides mobile communications services in Taiwan to over 1
million subscribers using its PHS network.
WiMAX base stations are expected to be readied in the downtown Taipei area by
the first half of 2008. Testing for Fitel's part of the M-Taiwan program will
commence at that time. The M-Taiwan project is a government initiative to
accelerate WiMAX ecosystem development and create a city-wide broadband network
for consumers. M-Taiwan fosters four objectives[1]:
Enhance Infrastructure: Reducing digital divide by achieving wireless
broadband coverage in the urban area to 80~90% and rural area to 30~40%
Upgrade the Capability of the Communications Equipment: Achieving over
50% usage of domestic equipment and incubating 1~2 system vendors
Create a Mobile Data Service Industry: Establishing domestic mobile data
services and incubating 2~3 service solution companies
Build a Competitive Mobile Industry Environment: Selecting 2~3 fixed
network operators for WiMAX trials and creating integrated data, video, and IPTV
services
[1] M-Taiwan Program, WiMAX Forum; March 2007
By Jeff Orr
ORR Technology, LLC
What Companies Plan for Their Shiny New 700 MHz Spectrum
CenturyTel weighs in early plans to use its 700 MHz spectrum for wireless overlay.
Telephony
Online reports that CenturyTel has announced that it intends to use its
shiny new 700 MHz spectrum for wireless overlay in rural and
low-density markets. CenturyTel is mum on what technology it
plans to use or exactly when it might start deployments. The company
notes that much of its spectrum won't be cleared until February, 2009
when TV broadcasters finally exodus from the band.
What I find most interesting about this is the overlay concept whereby
CenturyTel will use its spectrum to cover its existing ILEC markets
where it has a lot of fiber footprint. Presumably it will be able to
tie the wireless relay sites into its wireless network and since 700
MHz propagates so very well, it would serve a great value to add
broadband coverage very affordably to CenturyTel subscribers too far
from town centers to take advantage of its wireline footprint. Will
other carriers follow a similar strategy? That is hard to say. I
suspect that some may attempt to duplicate a mostly unicast strategy
like Qualcomm is doing with its 700 MHz spectrum.
For rural carriers though, this model makes enormous sense. As it will
require relatively few towers to serve a given area, even ones with
fairly heavy tree cover. Granted the 700 MHz spectrum bands don't allow
the delivery of very high bandwidth pipes, but for rural applications
where customers have few alternatives if any, it is a great example of
some service versus no service.
CenturyTel got spectrum that covers about 53 percent of its current
footprint in Arkansas, Louisiana, Ohio and Montana with some coverage
in another seven states. The price paid averaged about 70 cents per
MHz/POP.
Tim Sanders
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WiMAX is Alive and Well Overseas
Despite uncertainties in the US market centered around Sprint, WiMAX is clearly alive and well in other parts of the world.
As reported on Unstrung this past week, venerable British Telecom
wants WiMAX. The report is that BT intends to bid for UK broadband
spectrum immediately and in other European countries as well. Unstrung
reports that BT is looking for ways to cohere its cellular, WiMAX and
Wi-Fi offerings together into some type of blended service.
The UK's OFCOM plans an auction of 215 MHz (of which 50 MHz to 190 MHz
would be slated for WiMAX operations) of spectrum in the 2.6 GHz range
somewhere around the end of this year.
For its part BT seems interested in the spectrum but only if the price is prudent.
Future BT targets for spectrum bids could be Germany, Sweden and
Norway. In the meantime BT is pursuing requests for information from
several vendors to learn more about the systems. Vendors of interest
are likely Alvarion, which BT already uses for some purposes, Motorola
and Nokia.
Tim Sanders
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