So what is WiMAX?

WiMAX - World Interoperability for Microwave Access

So what is WiMAX and why is WiMAX such a big issue? We hear about WiMAX as much as we hear about 3G and sometimes even more. So I have seen many people ask - so what is it? Is it next generation of WiFi? What is it going to provide? So let me tackle a few of these questions.

Recommended WiFi before continuing.

WiMAX is also a way of providing wireless connectivity - in a larger area - it is a wireless MAN (metropolitan area network). There are two main applications of WiMAX today: fixed WiMAX applications are point-to-multipoint enabling broadband access to homes and businesses, whereas mobile WiMAX offers the full mobility of cellular networks at true broadband speeds.

Fixed WiMAX allows
1. connecting Wi-Fi hotspots with each other and to other parts of the Internet.
2 providing a wireless alternative to cable and DSL for last mile broadband access (i.e., from the nearest high capacity cable like optic fibre termination to your home/office).

So what is needed in these to be able to use the Internet -
1. when two WiFi hotspots are connected; the user is not at all influenced. He/she uses WiFi with their WiFi card in the WiFi hotspot. Once outside the WiFi hotspot, there is no connection to the network.
2. last mile - A WiMAX CPE (customer premise equipment) at your home/office to connect to your computer. The CPE connects to the WiMAX access point place where the nearest high speed cable ends.

The standard used for this wireless connection between the two WiMAX devices is 802.16. WiMAX is a name of a forum promoting 802.16 standard. (Extra info - Genereally speaking WiMAX means 802.16 standard. In the techical IEEE 802 discussions, they are not the same. WiMAX certified product is not necessarily a 802.16 standard compliant product. WiMAX is a forum independent of IEEE802. IEEE802 standardizes the 802.16 protocol, whereas WiMAX promotes the 802.16 protocol.) Now the mobile WiMAX ...

Mobile WiMAX allows
- mobile connectivity.

This is sort of a big big WiFi. Wherever you be, you can connect to the WiMAX. You need a WiMAX card with you and a WiMAX access point and you are good to go. WiMAX access points are installed throughout by service providers. They are like base stations of the cellular system. Here we are talking about the 2G, 3G, GSM, CDMA kind of systems. They have base stations distributed throughout; the cell phone connects to these base stations and you can make calls, send sms, download music, check emails or browse Internet with your cell phone. Similarly, WiMAX service provider will have access points thought their coverage area and a WiMAX card in the laptop will access it for connection to the Internet. So you have access to the network while on the move. So how is it different from the data communication card given by Airtel and others. The speed! WiMAX is very high speed. Can go upto hundreds of MegaBytes. It is, as they say, broadband connection.

So mobile WiMAX can be seen in two ways -
1. big WiFi hotspot. you are always in the hotspot.
2. a cellular system that provides broadband connection.

That is why WiMAX is so big. They are better than WiFi and 3G.

So will it replace WiFi and 3G? My personal opinion - it might.
Data communications on the move is good. But we cannot forget voice. Can we talk using WiMAX? My answer - if we can talk using skype, then we can definitely talk with WiMAX. you can log on to your skype when you have WiMAX giving you internet connection. That is what is wireless VOIP. Many manufacturers are coming up with WiMAX phone so that you do not need a laptop to log in to your skype like application.
Also read my 3G or 4G?

Intel has a good pictorial presentation with voice explanations.

So what do you say? Do you know a bit about WiMAX now? Do write your comments.

WiFi ... Hotspot ...

What is WiFi? WiFi is a way to wirelessly connect terminals to the Internet in a small area. A wireless router or modem is needed in addition to the wireless cards in your computer/smart phones/pdas. These days most of these cards are inbuilt in laptops and a few very smart phones and pda say – WiFi connectivity – this means they have the card inbuilt.

So all you need is a wireless router connected to the dsl modem -- and your house is WiFi enabled. Of course you need the laptop with WiFi card built into it or you need to buy a WiFi card as well.

WiFi is actually a common name for the 802.11 standard. Dot 11 - rings any bells? Dot 11a, Dot11b and Dot11g are the WiFi standards. These standards define the protocol that defines how the wireless card in your terminal (laptop, computer, phone) communicates with the wireless router.

So what can WiFi do?
- Provide wireless connectivity in a small area (local area)
- if you are too far from the wireless router, you get no signal and hence you are not connected to any network including the Internet.
- to be wirelessly connected in a larger area using WiFi - there needs to be many routers so that your terminal is in the range of one of the routers at all times.

What is a hot spot?
A hotspot is an area which provides you connectivity. Most hotspots use WiFi. They have one or many wireless routers installed in their premises. And a user connects to the internet using their router. Many hotspots charge you some fee. Some are free hotspots.

Google, headquartered in Mountain View, is trying to make Mountain View a big hotspot. They have partnered with the city government to install wireless routers on street lights to provide wireless connectivity anywhere in the city.

Now comes the question - so what is WiMax? [Coming up ...]

Did Vodafone overpay?

Vodafone valued Hutchison Essar at US$19 and is willing to buy out the Essar holding after being declared the winner in the bid for the Hutchison race.
From Hutchison expressing its desire to be sold to Vodafone winning the bid - there was a lot of speculation as to what is the right price?
Some facts:
1. Hutch is the 3rd largest mobile operator - subscriber base of about 22million
2. Hutch is a GSM operator - Indians seem to favour GSM [Reliance, a CDMA operator, is showing interest in GSM - even bid for the Hutchison 67%]
3. Indian telecom penetration is less than 16% [huge market potential]
4. Subscriber growth in India - 6million users a month - ain't that worth trying?
5. Vodafone already had 10% in Bharti Airtel - the leading cell phone operator.
6. India currently has the 2.5G systems. 3G deployment stalled due to regularization issues for frequency and spectrum by TRAI.
7. Huge initial investment for 3G spectrum in Europe lead to the 3G not being such a big success as expected.
8. 3G issues will be sorted soon. Huge Capital investment needs to be made for the 3G infrastructure.
9. In India, broadband is speed above 256kbps - the Internet is very very slow. 3G is a system more for faster data applications. Voice and sms sees no difference.
10. Will 3G be as successful as 2G and 2.5G in a cost conscious Indian market?

So, Vodafone took a top player seat in an emerging market with huge market potential and ready to step on to 3G. But did Vodafone overpay?

US$19 billion for an Indian telecomm operator

Vodafone made the winning bid for Hutch - decided Sunday in Hongkong. I thought this would be the biggest Monday morning news all over the world. I thought they overpaid. But did they? What do experts say? I thought all top news reporters like cnn and bbc will be reporting about this deal. And of course the Indian newspaper gurus like times of India and Economic times will have a lot to say about them.

I opened cnn.com - Chicks claim 5 Grammys!!!
Where is Vodafone? Where is Hutch? Not a mention in the top stories. Not a mention in the Technology. Not a mention in the Business.
Bcc - Vodafone is a UK company. It has to be the big news all over UK - thinks me. "Democrats wary over Iran claims". That was the big news.
Ok, those are not India focused news. I opened timesofindia.com, once again very confident that Hutch or Vodafone or $19 billion would be definitely the big black eye catcher. Guess what I read ..... think .... yes! cricket!!!!! Sehwag gets World Cup lifeline; Sourav, Pathan in too. Hutch news was somewhere in the main page but definitely not the prime focus.
By now, I was already wondering if $19 billion was a big enough amount to gain top spot in the news. Well, for me $19 seems a not bad amount. More than 6 Starbucks! Just once again to prove myself wrong I forced myself to type economictimes.com and guess what I got - FOR VODAFONE INDIA IS NO LONGER A THIRD WORLD. Was I happy - Oh Yes! So Hutch deal/Vodafone win was purely a economic news. And that was news for me.

Coming up next - Did Vodafone overpay for Hutch?

What is Smartphone?

Many have tried to describe smartphones as phones with PDA-like functionality. Now, while it is true that smartphones offer PDA-like functionality, the converse is not true: not all phones with PDA-like functionality are smartphones. Regular or basic phones may also come with a set of features, such as a task manager, calendar, alarm, notes etc., but this doesn't make them all smartphones. Similarly, smartphones have also been associated with touch-screen phones. This is because a lot of Windows Mobile phones like the i-mate and O2 offerings had/have touch-screens. But not all touch-screen phones are smartphones, and not all smartphones are touch-screen capable. In the simplest manner, a smartphone is a phone that let's you install applications on it to extend the functionality of the phone.
Smartphones also allow multitasking, for eg. letting the web browser load a page in the background while you compose an SMS or an email. New multimedia phones have added this feature to the music player application, which can be pushed to the background while playing music to let you access other phone features, but this is limited to just that application. Regular phones may also offer a rudimentary form of multitasking where the application stays active in the background during an incoming phone call.
Smartphones run an operating system. Normal phones all use their own simpler, proprietary user interfaces. Nokia uses Series 40 (used in phones like the 6610 and 6270), Motorola uses the ageing P2K UI and others like Sony Ericsson and Samsung also have their own interfaces that are either the same or similar across their range of phones. Smartphones use more powerful operating systems such as Nokia's Series 60 UI based on the Symbian OS platform, used in devices such as the 6600, 6630, Nseries and Eseries phones. Sony Ericsson uses Symbian OS UIQ, used in the P and M series phones and also the new W950i Walkman. i-mate, O2, HP, HTC/Qtek/Dopod etc. all use Windows Mobile.
Palm and BlackBerry devices have their own proprietory operating systems similar to non-smartphones, namely Palm OS and BlackBerry OS, but these are both open systems that third-party developers can create applications for. In contrast, you cannot create low-level, natively executable applications for non-smartphones such as the 6610, RAZR V3i, K750i or the X820.
Apple's recently announced iPhone runs OS X and has almost all the features of a smartphone, but it isn't a true smartphone because third-party developers cannot create applications for it. The iPhone will only be capable of installing and running applications released by Apple, making it the iPhone version of OS X more of a proprietary UI than an open operating system. As Engadget said it, the iPhone is not a smartphone.

Hope you got some idea of what a smartphone is. Read more @ tech2

3G or 4G?

Spectrum allocation and management is the most contentious issue dogging the Indian telecom. Heated debate over the past two years has failed to resolve the issue and this has considerably delayed the launch of 3G services in India. The question is not "whether 3G can be ushered in without adequate allocation of spectrum", but also "how", "how much" and "to whom"? These were the kind of discussions in 3G India summit in Sept. 2006.

While Indian telecomm regulators and 2G service providers are fighting and debating over the whos and hows of 3G, there are players like Aircel who have launched WiMax services.

In the wireless world, voice providers are trying their best to also provide data services viz: Internet via a cell phone. On the other hand, wireless data technologies like Wifi/WiMax are on their way to provide voice with the VOIP technology with something like skype phones. Now there actually is almost no difference to the end user how he gets voice - through a cellular (GSM or CDMA or 3G) network or a data communications network (Wifi, WiMax...)

So, isn't India a little too late in launching the 3G services? Shouldn't they concentrate on what is beyond 3G. Ya, 4G is beyond 3G. But it is still not well defined as to what is 4G. I think India have a very good chance of actually defining 4G. If India adopts a certain technology, every operator, equipment manufacturer, technology provider will shift their attention to the India adopted technology and that is what would become 4G.

Telecom News

I always end up googling to look for news on Telecomm India. Thought it would be good to have one site that lists interesting sites talking about Telecomm India.

Check out the links on the right!

Suggest if you know more.