NEW DELHI, INDIA: WiMax is being hyped as the best bet to help percolate the fruits of Information Technology to 250,000 villages in the country. Paramjit Singh Puri, Business Development Manager - Advanced Technologies, Cisco Systems, feels the hype isn't misplaced and WiMax is the viable solution for bridging the last mile divide in a diverse country like India.

Paramjit Singh Puri, in an interaction with Idhries Ahmad of CIOL cites reasons for Cisco's faith in WIMax technology as best bet to connect rural India.

Paramjit also adds meat to the argument as to why should operators need to invest in a relatively new technologies like WiMax when competing and well entrenched technologies like 3G HSPA are already on plate for operators in India

Paramjit also talks about Cisco recent Navini Networks acquisition and how this will give Cisco a significant edge as the only company to provide end to end Wi-Fi - WiMax solution for connectivity and access technology.

CIOL: Can you brief me what is Cisco doing in the WiMax arena?

Paramjit Singh Puri: Cisco is introducing in the country the latest version of WiMax technology -802.16e - 2005 with its Smart Beam forming and MIMO Technology which allows for better and wider coverage with lesser no's of Base Towers. It also has a wide variety of CPE's and Antenna's etc.

WiMax -802.16d and the promise of the early availability of Mobile WiMax-802.16e which promises to deliver true Mobile experience over large distances at 'good' speeds would help usher in the availability of Wireless Broadband for the Common Citizen and Bridge the Digital Divide.

CIOL: Who are the major operators that you are working with and can you share some of experiences when it comes to roll out of WiMax services. What are the major projects you are working currently in India?

Paramjit Singh Puri: Cisco-Navini is in the 802.16e 2005 space and such it is only recently that some of the operators like BSNL and Tata VSNL have recently come out with their RFP's in this space. Besides these RFP's we are working with a couple of other Greenfield operators as well to roll out WiMax services.

CIOL: Why does Cisco feel WiMax as the solution to bridge the last mile divide in India. Why do you see WiMax as a superior broadband technology?  

Paramjit Singh Puri: In a country like India, the last mile connectivity will be a critical necessity and WiMax is expected to support peak data speeds of around 20 Mbps with average user data rates between 1 Mbps and 4 Mbps. Considered as a promising next-generation wireless technology, it can support high data rates along with a long transmission reach.

The ratification of this standard will bestow telecom carriers with the flexibility to choose vendors and offer the ease of interoperability of equipment. WiMax when available, may serve as a backhaul to connect wireless hot spots. The bottom line is that WiMax will coexist with current wireless broadband technologies, rather than replace them. WiMax can further complement mobile networks and act as a replacement for citywide Wi-Fi, as Wi-fi was initially designed to be used indoors.

WiMax is a new standards-based wireless technology gaining rapid acceptance around the world. It is capable of delivering broadband Internet and extending services like Internet telephony throughout India without major disruption to transportation and other services.

Unlike wired solutions, it requires no blocking traffic to dig miles of trenches for telecommunication cables, no ruining blocks of roads to provide Internet services, no waiting on massive infrastructure build-out projects, and no overhanging cables that can snap anytime. WiMax offers a fast, affordable, convenient solution to India's widespread Internet access needs.

CIOL: What do you see as the evolution path for WiMax?. In terms of cost, how is WiMax placed when compared with other technologies?

Paramjit Singh Puri: WiMax itself is still a new technology and Mobile WiMax or 802.16e is still to become a reality. In terms of evolution it is expected that 802.16e will evolve to become truly Mobile offering

True connectivity at moving speeds of 100 Miles/hr. It is still an expensive technology compared to Wi=Fi since it operates on a Licensed frequency and the CPE's and Antenna's etc are still expensive. But it is still easier and cost effective then 3G and HSDPA.

CIOL: And how do you see it competing with other technologies like 3G HSPA. or are WCDMA/HSPA and WiMax not competing but rather complementing technologies?

Paramjit Singh Puri: In some ways they are competing also and not competing also. WCDMA does not offer true Broadband speeds and HSPA is still to evolve fully. Eventually each country would decide upon its choice of technology with many opting for Hybrid deployments depending upon the Application, Terrain, Frequency and Spectrum issue, Cost etc. where they would all co exist rather then compete.

CIOL: Why should operators invest in a new technologies like WiMax when there is already 2G infrastructure of operators ready to roll out their 3G services?

Paramjit Singh Puri: WiMax in India today is primarily driven by the community of service providers and is still in the pilot phase. Service providers like Reliance and VSNL have taken the lead in this with other major players also having a roadmap to provide services to both rural and urban markets. The ground reality, however, is that there is very little real implementation of the technology in the country and this is still mostly on experimental basis.

Moving forward, most stakeholders do have major plans in order to reach out to the broadband customers in both urban and rural India. WiMax is a practical commercial solution to widen the market, especially in areas with poor or no wired infrastructure. As a technology, it is easy to deploy and doesn't need a vast and elaborate wired infrastructure to implement WiMax services.

CIOL: What are the challenges you see in the roll out of WiMax in India. What are the major deterrents in India for Bridging the last mile divide?

WiMax is a licensed technology viz-a-viz Wi-Fi which is not and because of which the cost factor for WiMax is higher than Wi-Fi. Further, Wi-Max is still not a matured technology, though it holds a lot of promise future. Many IT majors and telecom giants are betting big on this technology.

The cost of the WiMax equipment like the Base Towers and the CPE's is still expensive compared to the more prevalent Wifi hardware. Also since the Access technology for the end users which is your Laptops, PDA's, Handhelds, Mobile phones etc all have a Wifi chip in it and the WiMax chip is still in the early infancy stages of development.

Issues like licensing, cost effectiveness, maturing of the technology are some of the challenges that needs to be overcome to enhance WiMax adoption.

With respect to regulatory issues, TRAI is still grappling with spectrum allocation problem, this also adds to the cost factor. However, the government is serious about deploying this technology in the country and is looking at this matter with seriousness. As such till such time WiMax will remain a Licensed technology.  

CIOL: The biggest obstacle in the way of rural infrastructure expansion from the service provider's perspective is less RoI and high Capex and Opex. In India the ARPU for a rural user is considerably low when compared to an urban user. In this light what are opportunities for service providers to expand their portfolio in rural India?

Digital Divide and Enablement for all is the Mantra for any Good growing economy and it has been seen in many growing and developed countries that growth in Broadband is directly proportional to the growth in GDP of a country. In a country like ours both the SP's and Govt will have to jointly work together for the benefit of the country's economic growth.  WiMAX provides an attractive technology over which wireline and cable providers can introduce Quad-Play services

CIOL: Any case study worth talking about where WIMAX roll out has been a real success. How different is it when it comes to roll out of WIMAX services in India as compared to rest of Asia or Europe?

There is no real worth while project talking about although Reliance and VSNL have rolled out Pilot 802.16d deployments. In India the main challenge is still in the Spectrum issue where by the Govt is yet to take a final decision on the Frequency Bandwith to be allotted for Wimax. WiMax works best in the Licensed bandwith in the 2.5 and 3.5 GHz frequency which is the choice of frequency as per the WiMax Forum. Also the technology is still new and not many deployments have happened world over.

CIOL: What are the services that WiMax will help to roll out seamlessly in rural India. What technical advantages does WiMax offer?

Basically WiMax will offer Last Mile connectivity covering larger distances then Wi-Fi in Licensed frequency with less interference and reach out to areas where Copper and Fibre cannot reach due to technical and commercial restraints.

With WiMax coming into the picture, WiMax has the immediate potential to deliver cost effective broadband services to emerging markets where little or no networks infrastructure exists

Even in developed regions, WiMAX is seen as a potential alternative technology to provide fixed, nomadic, or mobile broadband services

WiMAX provides an attractive technology over which wireline and cable providers can introduce Quad-Play services, i.e. Voice, Data, Video and Mobile applications.

CIOL: At a different level, what is the business sense for operators to roll out services in Rural India. Any alternative revenue model you see service providers contemplating?

The main thing is to provide connectivity and then sevices can be deployed on the network, if there is no network then there is nothing you can do. The Govt is seriously looking at the Digital Divide and Millions of new, currently unreachable,

Internet users will drive demand for IP infrastructure and technologies throughout the service delivery chain. Service providers in many markets now see WiMAX as a practical commercial proposition, allowing them to grow their subscriber-base

CIOL: How do see the initiatives from TRAI and DoT with regards to broadband penetration India?

The Govt seems to be serious in its efforts to resolve the Spectrum issues associated with WiMax and it has allocated the spectrum frequency of 2.5 GHz to BSNL as a first step. Going forward it has to come out with a Standard policy for WiMax.