GoBroadband carried a story of India receiving a note of caution from the WiMax forum, of the possibility of getting left behind in the race to deploy WiMax solutions due to its non-allocation of the necessary spectrum in 2.5 to 2.69 GHz for these services.
WiMax is a wireless Internet solution that involves making use of towers similar to the ones for cellular mobile services and dispersing wireless signals that your WiMax enabled laptop or computer or any other mobile device could pick up and let you surf Internet on-the-move at broadband speeds.
TRAI (Telecom Regulatory Authority of India) has currently set aside 3.3-3.4 GHz for WiMax unlike the 2.5-2.69 GHz that is being set worldwide. This range has been reserved in India for applications like disaster warning, dissemination and radio networking.
Implications could be disastrous as WiMax deployment costs could spiral upwards due to customized WiMax transceivers that would be required if India operates WiMax at a frequency band different from what the world has embraced. We just cannot live with this kind of a situation in a fast growing country like India whose claim to fame rests on the fact that India is bypassing 'Industrial growth phase' and is directly moving into the 'Information growth phase' in its transition from a developing country to a developed one. Internet penetration, which is touted to deliver us nirvana from the rural-urban divide, cannot be sacrificed at the altar of bureaucracy and inappropriate decision making. The need of the hour is to quickly take pulse of the situation and make the changes necessary to ease India's movement into the WiMax age.
VSNL, the Tata controlled Internet service provider, has already indicated of plans to start rolling out its WiMax services in 6 months time provided the necessary spectrum was allocated to it by TRAI.
The willingness on the government's part to take the necessary strides in the right direction to assure businesses and NGOs will be key in determining how quickly India can see the dawn of the WiMax age that shows tremendous promise
Implications could be disastrous as WiMax deployment costs could spiral upwards due to customized WiMax transceivers that would be required if India operates WiMax at a frequency band different from what the world has embraced. We just cannot live with this kind of a situation in a fast growing country like India whose claim to fame rests on the fact that India is bypassing 'Industrial growth phase' and is directly moving into the 'Information growth phase' in its transition from a developing country to a developed one. Internet penetration, which is touted to deliver us nirvana from the rural-urban divide, cannot be sacrificed at the altar of bureaucracy and inappropriate decision making. The need of the hour is to quickly take pulse of the situation and make the changes necessary to ease India's movement into the WiMax age.
VSNL, the Tata controlled Internet service provider, has already indicated of plans to start rolling out its WiMax services in 6 months time provided the necessary spectrum was allocated to it by TRAI.
The willingness on the government's part to take the necessary strides in the right direction to assure businesses and NGOs will be key in determining how quickly India can see the dawn of the WiMax age that shows tremendous promise
- One in terms, of boosting business in India as city wide WiMax zones are rolled out
- Two, in terms of achieving last-mile connectivity that would be imperative to bridge the rural-urban divide in India.
Comments
It was nice to attend your presentation at the S P Jain Centre of Management, Singapore. I have been a Blogger for quite some time now and your idea really caught my imagination. We also have a very active Bloggers Community at S P Jain (Find more on http://spjaindubai.blogspot.com/). We hope to meet you again and build further on your innovative idea!
Regards,
Hemant.