WiMAX- ‘4G’ test signals aired in Coal and Steel bhttps://www.dailypioneer.com/321579/WiMAX--%E2%80%984G%E2%80%99-test-signals-aired-in-Coal-and-Steel-belt.html
WiMAX- ‘4G’ test signals aired in Coal and Steel belt
March 03, 2011 10:18:37 PM
Ashis Sinha | Dhanbad/Bokaro
State-owned telecom major Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL) aired the test signals of ‘WiMax’ (Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access) the 4G (fourth generation) wireless broadband telecom services in Coal and Steel belt (Dhanbad-Bokaro) of Jharkhand which would be available to the users by March end this year.
“Out of 42 WiMax towers, 11 have been already installed in Dhanbad and Bokaro including Sector 4, Sector 5, Sector 2 and Chas. Work is still in progress and rest 31 towers will be installed soon”, Dev Shankar DGM BSNL Dhanbad informed.
BSNL is on the move to join the rural world with the latest and fastest telecom services 4G wireless broadband services in the rural areas of Coal and Steel belt of Jharkhand.
WiMAX technology which is also known as 4G technology now smoothly working at Tundi (35 kms) from the district headquarter of Dhanbad, will soon be available in the entire Dhanbad and Bokaro regions by the year end.
This unique technology first employed by the BSNL has ushered a new era of growth in rural areas of the country.
Official sources said that this service was first launched in Rajasthan in December 2009, was supposed to be launched in 2008 but got delayed as spectrum needed for this service was auctioned with 3G spectrum, BSNL however got it before any other.
BSNL Dhanbad circle officials informed that very soon this service will be available in 42 places across the coal and steel belt for which many city dwellers have been eagerly waiting for; “Installation of towers and necessary equipment, including antennas is going on, on a war footing,” added the officials.
Initially the move is to join all the villages with WiMAX at Panchayat level via ‘Pragya Kendras’ and then to individuals, the officials said.
Elaborating on the technical aspects of the 4G technology, BSNL technical experts said that WiMAX allows for internet service within a 15 kms-radius using only one antenna with high speed internet service (about 7Mbps), without being dependent on telephone or optical fibre cables.
This high speed wireless broadband connectivity would offer voice conferencing enabling tele-medicine and tele-education, besides providing other services like payments of utility bills, issue of birth certificates, land records, vehicles registrations etc., the senior technical official informed.
According to the ASSOCHAM report, WiMAX broadband subscribers in India will outnumber 3G subscribers by 2014. There will be 20 million 3G-based broadband subscribers by 2014 as opposed to 60 million WiMAX users.
An expert however says, “3G technology was made for voice. It was not designed with the internet in mind, while ‘WiMAX’, on the other hand, is designed for mobile broadband, and it’s very affordable today”.
“One can get USB dongle as WiMAX-enabled device or one could have a WiMAX-enabled laptop (similar to Wi-Fi notebooks) to enjoy the high speed broadband,” the expert said.
India is the largest single-country WiMAX opportunity in the world, with most of the major operators actively pursuing WiMAX (BSNL, Tata, Bharti Airtel including others); deployments are well-underway with acceleration in adoption experienced in many telecoms circles. Many countries are viewing WiMAX as a way to introduce voice services to remote locations - India, Africa, Eastern Europe and even rural areas in the US are now leading WiMAX adoption.