WiMax launch in Atlanta is biggest city so far in Clearwire roadmap

Clearwire Corp. officially celebrates the launch of its WiMax service in Atlanta on Tuesday, but the formal launch in its largest city so far still has experts wondering how the fast wireless Internet service will catch on around the nation.

Clearwire, based in Kirkland, Wash., has an ambitious plan to roll out WiMax service nationwide under the Clear brand over several years, with backing from major players such as Intel Corp., Google Inc., Sprint Nextel Inc. and cable providers such as Time Warner Cable.

The cities of Portland, Ore., and Baltimore have held official WiMax launches, but other cities such as Chicago have been provisioning the technology for more than a year without a formal launch party. Still, Clearwire in March said it plans to have WiMax rolled out in eight cities, including Atlanta, this year, and four more in 2010.

The Atlanta launch was described in a full-page advertisement in today's Atlanta Journal and Constitution, although there is no separate mention on the Clearwire Web site. A public celebration at the city's Atlantic Station is planned.

A Clearwire official couldn't be reached for comment, although the company said in May there would be an Atlanta launch sometime this month. In fact, Clearwire has been signing up customers in advance of a formal launch, based on various reports.

Clear services were also quietly launched in Las Vegas, with an official launch planned for this summer, according to the FierceBroadbandWireless site.

Jeffrey Kagan, an independent analyst based in Atlanta, has been a trial customer of Clear for two weeks, and remarked in an e-mail, "so far this technology works great." He reported getting fast speeds of 5Mbit/sec. to 9Mbit/sec. from a WiMax card inserted into his laptop.

He also noted that when he leaves Atlanta, he loses the signal. In the future, Kagan said he hopes to use a laptop card that will automatically move from a Sprint 3G wireless signal to WiMax and back again, when needed.

"WiMax is similar to Wi-Fi, but the coverage is an entire city compared to just a store," Kagan noted.

Whether those WiMax-capable cities remain islands unto themselves is the big question facing Clearwire. "Success for Clearwire depends on how they advertise and market and how the competition responds," Kagan said. "I don't think the competitors will react at this point unless and until Clearwire starts winning business from them."

Clearwire holds its annual stockholder meeting Wednesday, but analysts don't expect much more information on the timetable for Clear city rollouts.

One WiMax competitor, AT&T Inc., is planning to offer LTE (Long Term Evolution) as its next-generation wireless service. An AT&T spokesman based in Atlanta said the big question facing wireless customers will be how widespread WiMax service will be. "LTE will be everywhere," he said.

Generally, LTE is not expected to be broadly available until after 2012, and WiMax-backers see WiMax as widely available as much as a year to two years earlier.


Source: http://www.computerworld.com/

Tata Communications Reports 50K WiMAX Subscribers

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The Economic Times of India reports that Tata Communications (TCL) has signed up 50,000 subscribers for its fixed WiMAX service. Additionally, Maravedis projects 13 million subscribers in India by 2013.

The Economic Times of India reports that Tata Communications (TCL) has signed up 50,000 subscribers for its fixed WiMAX service. TCL, earlier known as VSNL, had received WiMax spectrum in the 3.3 GHz band under its Internet Service Provider (ISP) licence with the Indian government. Other Indian network operators- Bharti Airtel, Aircel, Sify and Reliance Communications - also own spectrum in this band.

Tata Communications Internet Services (TCISL), a wholly-owned subsidiary of TCL, is investing substantially for its WiMAX rollout to ensure that it gets a headstart in the acquisition of subscribers. The company, with a WiMAX capex outlay of $500 million for three years ending FY12, has put in place around 1,400 base stations across 140 cities. This makes it the largest WiMax network in the world, according to TCISL COO Prateek Pashine. TCISL has procured its WiMax equipment from Telsima Corp, a company recently acquired by Harris Stratex Networks. TCISL is obtaining customer premise equipment (CPE) from Taiwan-based networking and communications equipment firm Universal Scientific Industrial (USI).

On the much-delayed spectrum auctions, Mr Pashine said the industry was eagerly looking forward to offering services in the 2.2-to-2.3 Ghz band, which will be auctioned later this year (if you believe the Indian IT Ministry). "The postponement has delayed customer acquisition and rollout of services and revenues associated with that," he said.

For our posts on the often delayed India spectrum auctions, please see: Will it Ever Happen? India May Delay 3G Auction, Raise Prices. The follow up comments imply that the auction will not be held till 2010. That is great cause for concern for the broadband wireless industry in India, in our opinion.

For further details on TCL's WiMAX network, please see: TCL ropes in 50k for WiMax broadband

Separately, market research firms Maravedis and Tonse predict WiMAX Subscribers in India will Exceed 13 Million by 2013. A new report concludes that deployment of 3G and WiMAX will generate a reasonable user base over the next 5 year period, before noticeable LTE deployments begin to make an impact in India. Maravedis, in partnership with leading Indian telecom market research and analysis firm Tonse Telecom, just released the 3rd Edition of “India Wireless Broadband and WiMAX Market Analysis and Forecasts, 2009-2013.”

“Despite delayed spectrum auctions that are impeding a tremendous economic driver, 3G/BWA/WiMAX network activity is already on a roll,” said Sridhar Pai, co-author of the report and Tonse Telecom CEO. “For the severely underserved Indian broadband market, demand for wireless broadband connectivity continues across all sectors: retail, SOHO, SMEs and large enterprises alike,” he continued.

According to the report, the big push will be seen post-spectrum auctions. “However, aided by pre-allocation in the 2.5GHz band, incumbents are already developing massive national rollout plans for both 3G and WiMAX. Expect significant pan-India deployments from other successful auction bidders,” said Maravedis CEO Adlane Fellah.

While the global economy is lying dormant, demand for telecommunications services in India continues to fuel significant growth in the sector. “We estimate that in 2008, approximately 10,000 BWA/WiMAX base station sectors were deployed in total. Currently there are about 300,000 BWA/WiMAX subscribers already using these services,” Pai noted.

“Wireless CAPEX has already reached US$ sub-100 levels per line, thereby confirming the primary transport technology will be wireless,” added Fellah.

Key Findings of the report:
- Internet access is still the big broadband driver in India, with wireless broadband becoming the clear option owing to economics and ease of deployment.
- BWA operators have yet to resolve many service quality issues.
- India is expected to see the world’s lowest end-to-end cost for WiMAX services, with costs driven down faster than in any other market.
- Computer penetration is still very low and the Indian telecom sector operates in a volume-driven market.
- Innovative business models such as public-private partnerships will emerge, together with low cost devices and a vibrant ecosystem.

For more information, please visit: http://www.maravedis-bwa.com/

Source:http://www.wimax.com/commentary/blog/blog-2009/april-2009/tata-ommunications-reports-50k-wimax-subscribers-0428

Augere - Wimax Operator Launching Soon in Pakistan

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Augere, a Netherland firm whose focus is on broadband delivery in emerging markets, has been selected by TeleCard for its Wimax operations. This was in the news sometimes ago but this is now confirmed that they are going ahead with their deployment.

Huawei equipment has been chosen for this purpose and NETKOM is deploying the network these days. About 100 sites are selected for installation in Karachi (that I came to know about).

Led by a highly experienced team of international telecommunication executives, Ex-chairman Orange Telecom, Augere has an access to significant financial and technical expertise that will support its business in Pakistan. TeleCard hopes that the launch of a Wimax Network will enable TeleCard to further its penetration in the telecom sector and to optimize use of TeleCard resources not only in the form of spectrum utilization but also leveraging the overall field network and infrastructure which the Company has deployed throughout the country.

They have this court matter with Qatar Telecom these days about some licensing issues. Reportedly, QTel is saying that they were first to finalize the deal with Telecard and not Augere. Once this court matter is sorted out, the new Wimax Opeator will be in market.

So, Wateen and Infinity, get ready for more competition after Wi-Tribe – by the way Wi-Tribe is launching their network in few weeks; stay tuned to remain updated : - )

Augere can be reached at http://www.augere.eu/index.html

http://www.propakistani.com/2009/03/19/another-wimax-operator-launching-soon-augere/