Telecom industry preparing for WiMAX operations

New Delhi, Dec 7: The telecom industry is going full scale in preparation for providing WiMAX services in the country even as the government is deciding on ''suitable and available spectrum'' allocation.

Service providers and equipment manufacturers are going ahead with the plans to develop infrastructure for providing the high-speed broadband connectivity for quick transfer of data and Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) services.

Motorola has developed a low-cost Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access (WiMAX) enabled equipment at its manufacturing facility set up exclusively for the production of such equipment in Sriperumbudur Hi-tech Special Economic Zone (SEZ) in Chennai.

''The equipment is in the trial stage and will be launched as soon as a suitable spectrum is allocated and the services are started,'' company Director (Regional Government Relations) Bharat Bhatia told reporters at a Round Table Conference on 'Role of WiMAX in Next Generation Services' here today.

The unit will focus on the needs of the rural population of the country, which has a huge potential for growth of the telecom industry, he added.

The unit is part of Motorola's plan to set up a plant in Sriperumbudur to manufacture low-cost mobile equipment at the cost of 100 million dollars.

Another equipment manufacturer Alcatel-Lucent has developed a low-cost Customer Premises Equipment (CPE) at its research and development centre in Chennai.

''The equipment is set for launch in February next year and presently the company is considering its pricing,'' company Vice President (Marketing, Business Development and Corporate Communication) Vishesh Gupta said.

Bharti Airtel has all the infrastructure requirements in place and is waiting for the spectrum of 2.5 GHz to be released by the government. ''We have applied for the license and are waiting for the government to release the required spectrum,'' the service provider's Head (Technology) T V Sriram said.

The company has the infrastructure and ''can start operations even today on the 3.3 GHz spectrum, which is available,'' he added.

Anil Ambani-owned Reliance Communication, however, is waiting for cheaper CPEs to explore the rural areas of the country.

''We are looking for low-cost CPEs to make WiMAX technoloy broad-based,'' Mr Sandeep Sibal from Reliance Communication said.

During the roundtable, under the chairmanship of Mr K Sridhar, Member (Technology) Department of Telecommunication, the industry representatives demanded expeditious release of spectrum of 2.3-2.4 GHz to increase the speed of data broadband services.

The global WiMAX Forum had recently cautioned that India could miss the wireless broadband revolution and get isolated from the rest of the world, unless the country allocates spectrum in the 2.5-2.69 GHz for these services.

They also demanded the allocation of at least 15 MHz in 3.3-3.4 GHz to each service provider. Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) has recommended to the government the release of 100 MHz of spectrum in 3.3-3.4 GHz for the WiMAX technology to operate.

WiMAX is a technology that offers broadband service to subscribers without a physical wire connection with an operator. The technology enables internet connectivity at faster speeds and for much longer ranges than current wireless technologies. It can provide internet connectivity for more than 30 miles.

UNI