https://4gtrends.com/?p=3910
When the Indian BWA spectrum auctions concluded earlier this year, it seemed that the 2.3 GHz TDD band - once considered a clear run for WiMAX - would actually be split between that technology and TD-LTE. While state-owned telcos BSNL and MTNL are already deploying WiMAX in their 2.3 GHz spectrum, the privately held winners were more divided. The only one of these players to get licenses nationwide was Infotel, which was quickly snapped up by Indian conglomerate Reliance Industries (RIL). The firm implied that it would choose LTE for its new frequencies, even though Infotel had previously been committed to WiMAX, but now the firm appears to have opted for the more readily available technology after all, in the interests of early market impact
The other BWA victors only gained licenses in selected circles or operating regions. Qualcomm won in four circles and will recruit local partners to create a foothold for its favoured platform, TD-LTE. However, equipment will not be commercially available at prices to suit the Indian market for at least a year so these licenses look set to stay dormant for the time being. Other winners were Aircel, in eight circles, Bharti Airtel in four, Tikona in five and Augere in one. Tikona and Augere are committed to WiMAX while the two cellcos are undecided as yet.
Like RIL, they will face the choice of a technology that is available now, with a growing ecosystem driving down prices; and one that involves a hiatus period but is more closely integrated into the broader LTE market, promising possible economies and synergies in future when operators have deployed LTE widely in FDD spectrum. This dilemma explains the growing interest in software defined base stations that make it simpler for carriers to support both technologies, coexisting in different markets and business models, or with the flexibility to migrate from one to the other if conditions demand.
This is likely to have been one factor influencing RIL, which knows it needs to deploy quickly to meet India’s desperate shortage of broadband and wireless capacity and to steal a march on rivals. When it acquired Infotel, it referred specifically to LTE, even though its new ISP arm had been trialling WiMAX and planning to use it if it won licenses. But now it is taking the more pragmatic route and has begun its own WiMAX trials this month, according to company sources, which say the firm has installed five WiMAX base stations, testing kit from Alvarion and Samsung and working on interoperability.
RIL’s decision may be the first crack in the armor of TD-LTE, showing that the technology is not as close to market readiness as its supporters suggest. The operator gets a headstart in 4G and an improved bargaining position - buying affordable WiMAX equipment now and setting the benchmark for LTE equipment prices. Even if it introduces FD-LTE or even TD-LTE in future, there will be coexistence for at least 4-5 years and possibly permanently.
Having re-entered the telecoms space for the first time since it divested its mobile arm, now Reliance Communications, RIL is expected to form closer ties with that company. RCom also has significant WiMAX activities, which fit into a growing pattern for operators to harness the IP technology, and the TDD spectrum it targets, to build international power bases at relatively low cost. This spectrum is often cheaper than cellular focused FDD bands, and provides a lower cost, lower profile route into new markets than big ticket expansion programs like France Telecom’s in Africa. Even this roadmap, which relies heavily on acquiring mobile operators or licenses, is also supplemented heavily by investment in WiMAX players and spectrum. Others, like RCom, Orange spin-out Augere, ChinaTel and even Clearwire are focusing entirely on Clearwire and on the TDD bands, banking on an explosion of usage and value in unpaired TDD because of its suitability for IP-based data applications.
Augere has funding from Orange and has launched networks in Pakistan, Bangladesh, Rwanda and Uganda, and has an Indian license in some circles. It is likely to form part of its investor’s broader program to establish its presence throughout Africa and south Asia.
Clearwire is cultivating partnerships in India, China and other parts of Asia and Latin America, and has spectrum in several European markets, and networks in parts of Spain and Denmark. This week, it announced that it had acquired a 7% stake in another WiMAX operator, Ireland’s Imagine Communications, for €5m. The US firm will transfer its own Irish network and customer base, and 400 cells sites, mainly around capital Dublin, to Imagine. Clearwire launched wireless broadband services in Ireland in 2005 and the Irish unit generated a pre-tax loss of €13.4m on sales of €8.3m in 2008. Imagine has launched its service in 15 towns around Ireland.
Meanwhile, US-based Chinatel Group, in partnership with CECT-Chinacomm Communications, owns exclusive rights to roll out WiMAX to the 29 largest cities in China - despite that country’s general preference for TD-LTE. It is mandated to cover the first 12 cities by June 2011 and has completed partial deployments in Beijing, Shanghai and Shenzhen. It has about $640m in funding and is also active in Peru.
As for RCom, the firm created a separate business unit, Reliance Globalcom, in 2008 to push into 50 markets by 2012, largely on the back of WiMAX and fiber investments. It aims to become a multinational operator in fixed and mobile services, taking its place among the new breed of global providers emerging from outside the traditional mobile economies, many of them looking to use WiMAX to support 4G-style and fixed broadband offerings