Overview Of WiMAX in Pakistan
I am sharing a piece about WiMAX in Paksitan, which I wrote for All Things Pakistan. As this is an overview, some of the information here may already be in my previous WiMAX posts.
Pakistan’s telecommunication industry - mobile communication in particular - has made impressive strides in the last few years after deregulation. However broadband growth in the country has been very disappointing - there are less than 100,000 broadband users in Pakistan. The open competition observed in mobile industry has not been replicated to broadband. Reasons include high prices, control of PTCL over bandwidth resources, policy issues, lack of infrastructure and legal disputes.
Enter WiMAX. Simply stated, it’s a relatively new standards-based wireless technology which is intended for large coverage areas on the order of several kilometers (instead of a few hundred meters, as is the case with Wi-Fi).
With base stations transmitting signals and some equipment at customer location, it promises fast bandwidth for both fixed locations and mobile users. In this backdrop, Pakistan made headlines in 2006 when Wateen announced plans to work with Motorola to rollout Mobile WiMAX, the largest network of its kind in the world.
Is WiMAX (Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access) the right technology for developing countries? In other words, will this new technology deliver the promise of broadband at affordable prices?
WiMAX comes with many theoretical advantages but its potential is yet unproven. Without getting too technical, it is purpose-built for Internet (IP) communication and is based on standards (as opposed to other proprietary solutions) endorsed by a respected world standards body, the Institute of Electrical & Electronic Engineers (IEEE)*.
In 2002 WiMAX was identified by Intel as an alternative or complement to the wireless broadband. Eventually Motorola and Intel became its biggest champions. On the other side of the camp were GSM operators of the world who saw WiMAX as a competing technology. As with any new technology, a lot of lobbying was done to make it an industry wide accepted technology. According to BusinessWeek,
“(Intel) rounded up a remarkable coalition of chip, PC, consumer electronics, networking, and software companies in an effort to radically reshape the future of broadband with what’s now called WiMAX.”
Currently the high prices of WiMAX ‘customer premises equipment’ (CPE) make it more expensive than fiber, cable or DSL. Wateen and others are counting on the trend of falling hardware prices for WiMAX. They would have to compete with the latest PTCL broadband campaign in which PTCL has dramatically reduced DSL prices at Rs 1200 per month for 256kbps speed with a 2GB limit. As a last mile solution, WiMAX may not compete on price at this time but if WiMAX is reliable, fast and operators provide better customer service then business users may pay some premium for it, say as a replacement for leased lines.
In addition to broadband Internet access, applications that are supportable with WiMAX supports multiplayer interactive gaming, streaming media, VoIP, video and teleconferencing, and media content downloads.
There are other potential benefits of WiMAX such as broadband access for rural areas or for areas that have no other reasonable broadband access. This is likely to be play an important role for developing countries. WiMAX can also reduce cost of transmission lines such as backhauls from cellular sites or cross-town links. To summarize, improved access and mobility are the major advantages promised by the WiMAX camp.
Even today the industry is full of discussions and debates, comparing WiMAX with technologies such as 3G. About 65 countries are experimenting with WiMAX and the results will vary by country depending on the spectrum availability, existing infrastructure and market conditions.
Coming back to Pakistan, the major initiatives include:
(1) Wateen - which is using WiMAX solution from Motorola and its cable/fiber network to offer triple play of phone, TV and broadband. Trials have been extended for over a year. Most aggressive to market their bundled solutions, they have started advertising without providing pricing and availability information.
(2) Mobilink - has formed a new entity called Link Dot Net (LDN) to focus on broadband market. WiMAX infrastructure was piloted by Mobilink in 3 cities and a recently issued RFP has generated 7 proposals to cover 5 major metros, including in-building coverage for high value business areas. Malaysia’s Dancom, which conducted early trials of WiMAX in Karachi, was acquired by Mobilink’s LDN in 2007. Mobilink also bought DV Com and its licenses.
(3) Burraq Telecom - which was acquired by ACT consortium which includes Qatar Telecom and Clearwire Corporation, an American operator providing WiMAX services in 10 countries, also plans to offer WiMAX.
The pricing has not been announced by these companies yet. Business users in Pakistan desperately need reliable broadband and are the desired customers because of their high affordability levels. Consumer market is different as demand varies by demographics’ low price is the dominating success factor.
What about the existing telecom infrastructure in Pakistan? For one, the GSM infrastructure in Pakistan is mainly focused on voice. 3G licenses are expected to be awarded at the end of 2007, paving the way for HSDPA - the high speed standard for GSM - in Pakistan . The existing 2 or 2.5G mobile Internet is available in selected areas and the number of users for the mobile broadband services remains low. It is yet to be seen if WiMAX, with its higher speeds** and costs, will find a large number of users in this category in Pakistan.
Spectrum is another important factor - even a show-stopper - in many countries where spectrum availability can mean all the difference. For Pakistan, PTA, the communications regulatory body has allocated spectrum in 3.5 GHz range for WiMAX. The CDMA wireless phone operators such as PTCL (Vfone) and Worldcall, which offer limited mobility, also have licenses in the 3.5GHz range and they are also likely to offer WiMAX services after getting approvals from PTA.
Notes:
* Fixed and mobile WiMAX are the 2 major choices, the standards for fixed (IEEE 802.16d) were defined in 2004; the mobile standard (IEEE 802.16e) has been recently finalized. WiMAX 802.16d has limited radio features; enhanced and standardized interoperable radio performance comes with WiMAX 802.16e.
** The claimed speeds for WiMAX vary making it difficult for people to get an idea of the real-life performance they are expected to get.
References: Motorola: [1] and [2] Wateen: [3] and [4] Others: [5], [6], and [7]
TelecomPk.Net is a leading source of information and analysis about Pakistan Telecom industry.
Is this Wateen sponsored blog i think so., please tell us the real facts that;
1) When Wateen will be launching its wimax full cooked (not half cooked with just marketing gimmicks/campaigns etc.)?
2) What will be its price setup and monthly cost etc.?
3) As a conumer i would like to know the pros and cons of this technologies not just theoretical stuff?
4) And why anyone should have Wimax when DSL and FTTU are already in place?
I hope you will help me have my anwers. Because it is now time to have the real facts…
If you read some of the previous posts criticising Wateen (see link below), you will get the answers to some of your questions - and no, this blog is not sponsored by Wateen or any one else.
http://telecompk.net/2007/08/31/wateen%e2%80%99s-strategic-mistake-in-product-launch/
Of course its not possible to assess the service as it is not launched and the prices are not known. But since we have alternatives, why worry?
Thanks for clarificiations, but i think they may be charging 20K for CPE and 1000min. for monthly charges.
“Is WiMAX (Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access) the right technology for developing countries? In other words, will this new technology deliver the promise of broadband at affordable prices?”…You hit it right on the head. The more important issue for the operators is to how create a business case to be able to deliver broadband at affordable rates and make sustainable profits in the process. There are other ways of providing wireless broadband without having to spend too much on base stations and CPE. What you need are backend systems which can support WiFi or other unlicensed spectrum RF systems while WiMAX matures enough to be affordable. Check out this company in the Philippines with an end-to-end solution for whatever RF system is likely to do good both for the operator and the subscriber.
it will be a commercially viable technology if there are large scale deployments in particularly north america and other developing markets. This will drive the CPE cost down.
The possinility is there to use WiMax as backhaul for WiMesh/MANET deployments but at the moment the FAB/PTA has raised some concerns on the outdoor usage of ISM band i.e. 2.4GHz
rub rakha
[...] bet on WiMAX. Part of the financing of this initiative is by Morotorla. See previous coverage of WiMAX in Pakistan and here. This is an interesting and expected development which puts pressure on Wateen to execute [...]
[...] WiMAX has been one of the most active topic of discussion in Pakistan telecom circles. After many [...]
What do you think if PTCL goes aggessive in terms of Marketing and Prices the future of WiMAx in Pakistan?
What will be the imapct of economic indicator on WIMAX?
What is future of WIMAX in pakistan as the concept of Home commuting (Operate office from home) is emarging and with PTCL low cost , High speed Broad Band services with Bundled products?
What is payback period as per initial plans? if some thing goes wrong and if there is price war the what is plan B?
VASWANI NAVAL
BE(Electronics),
MBA (Marketing & Management SZABIST Karachi)
MS (Services Marketing)
iamvaswani@gmail.com
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Hi !
Slam
I m confusing about the claim make by Telenor that pakistan largest GPRS network in which sense they are claiming.
Which network is market leader in pakistan in which sense.
Who is palying well.
According to my view point Mobilink is Market leader bcoz its has over 30, millions customer. and there newtwork is large.
But whats the positioning of Telenor, Warid, China Tel, Ufone. Kindly guide me in this sense.
[...] wrote about Link dot net a while ago while reviewing the WiMAX situation in Pakistan. This week Link dot net has launched in Pakistan with the usual media blitz. Tee Emm writes at [...]
Link dot net is the best compnay in pakistan on wimax
aoa. Broadband importance has been realized and its impact on overall economic growth of the country is well proven. Unfortunately Pakistan is quite lagging behind in this area. Although PTA is doing some good jobs but still more is needed to be done in this regard. Technological neutral approach of PTA is among good practices adopted by the regulators around the world.In the absence of Copper line and Cable infrastructure in most of the country, it is the best policy to facilitate the penetration of some low cost, rapid deployable technologies like wireless. This is also good to let market to decide to adopt which technology instead of regulator to push some technology in the market. Wimax has strong potential to become main stream technology. Especially the IEEE 802.16d, a fixed version is suitable for developing countries to spread broadband access to remote and rural areas of the Pakistan. The experience of the broadband advances countries like South Korea and Japan suggests that Government should play active role, both at demand and supply side, to speed up the penetration of broadband in Pakistan to compete with global economy.
Hope it will get a good remarks in the field of wimax
Mobi MaX ( Mobilink Wi-Max) ll be awesome , its all about high speed… with no installation and ready to use CPEs
Kindly avoid Wateen for health reasons, their service will give you head aches, stress which will eventually lead to heart problems. I wonder who allowed them to provide a service which is an insult to high tech world of internet and allied services.
AOa
Sir/Madam…i am here to look for people who are either currently using wateen’s products/services or have had some or the other experience with it…if u r one of the users(or had been one previously), then plz kindly reply on the id ” sid_aloo@yahoo.com”
i am asking for this ‘coz er…acually i am a student of bba at lhr and i am carrying a research to determine the satisfaction level among wateen users, so if you have the time and you are willing to help then plz kindly reply on the id above so that i can fwd u the questionnaire..its just a 2-3 mint survey and it doesnt have those long sort of questions,just one at the end regarding ur suggestions…
ps
If you are not the users of wateen, you can help by writing no im not using wateen and then filling up the personal profile part…
Dear Sidra
Have you got Information about wateen please share with us, we will really thankful to you.
Regards
Muhammad Abid
hi
i am an engg student and i wana know what is wimax what is it’s purpose and why should we use it
Great Info
Thanks
Kami
Salam
One of the friend said the health hazards of WIMax and I would like to know more about it. There was a huge row over the use of GSM cell phones in europe and america and alot of research went on but it was finally proven that there is no link between brain tumer and the high freqenceis of these devices. But wimax operate in 3.5 GHz range that is extreemly high freqency and a bit worried about it. Its new never been tested for health hazards i think
i want to get job/internship in any telecom company i have done my BE telecom engineering with 70% marks
imran3004@hotmail.com
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RUB RAKHA WROTE
” but at the moment the FAB/PTA has raised some concerns on the outdoor usage of ISM band i.e. 2.4GHz ”
What do u mean by this Rub Rakha. What concerns PTA would have on outdoor wifi. i think wifi is progressing and backed by giants like Cisco specially on N draft. The thing is we usually buy books from Book Fair Shops and Discounts (Discontinued) Books ;), that gives u decade old technology story.
Motorola Call 2.4GHZ an Unlicensed Wisdom and Alvarion working on Non Line of Sight 2.4GHZ and Ubiquiti is offering stunning Adaptive Antenna Technology CPE for only 79$. I bet if Wateen would have been offering 2.4GHz NLOS thier would have been a clear diff story. I usually put cross on thier GREEN and place it with CREAM. they better start saying ‘THE CREAM WE LOVE’ not the GREEN neccesary. The Lahore has been enjoying Broadband over DSL for many years. If they love GREEN why dont they start offering thier so called Broadband in Mandi, Chakwal, or even in Shahdara. Why should they have to take a clean start from Defence lahore. No body bloody understand the word Last Mile Technology other than WATEEN. They think Lahore Defence is last mile. Hell Man!
The thing is our bloody General for PTA get THEENGA by offering unlisenced technology. Because thier old ‘half blown minded’ people dont get any thing against it.
any one here used Mobilink Infinity connection? thinking of getting WiMAX at my home but needs some reviews of the services…………
Thanks……