Asia

BanglaLion to offer WiMax Service in Bangladesh

Eliza Nguyen on November 15, 2009 | 12 comments

dhaka_bangladesh_Banglalion_wimax

After placing its orders for USB network cards, WiMax terminal-end devices, and laptop PCs with built-in WiMax modules in late October, BanglaLion Communications announced this weekend to launch WiMax services in Dhaka, Bangladesh from June 1.

BanglaLion Communication, BRAC BD Mail Network and Augere Wireless Broadband Bangladesh won WiMax licenses from Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission (BTRC) at the Bangladeshi Bandwidth auction on November 18, 2008. The license, which was obtained for about 31 million USD, permits the company to provide services based on VoIP and the IEEE standard 802.16e and onward revisions using frequency in the 2.5 GHz band.

Their website was unavailable when we tried to check it for prices, but according to the Wimaxian, BanglaLion will offer five different plans at 128 kbps speeds:

* Home User/Individual for Tk 600/month (USD 8.69)

* Corporate (5-10 users) for Tk 550/month (USD7.97)

* Corporate (10 users above) for Tk 500/month (USD 7.24)

* Day User (Max3GB) for Tk 45/day (USD 0.65)

* Night Package (12 AM to 9 AM =9 hrs) for Tk 300/month (USD 4.35)

It has to be noted that 128 kbps (kilo bit per second) translates into only 16 kBps (kilo byte per second), which is not even close to the speed capabilities of a real WiMax connection. True WiMax access could easily reach speeds of 128 MBps.

Nevertheless at a recent conference, the company promised that they would provide minimum connection speeds of 128Mbps by using BanglaLion’s WiMax modem available at the company’s website for Tk3,000 (USD 43.45). Whether or not the company will keep its word about boosting connection speeds up to full WIMax capabilities will show in June. For now, the one thing that is certain is that the WiMax service launch will significantly improve the infrastructure in Bangladesh.… Read the rest

Tranzeo Receives US$5.4M Purchase Order in Indonesia

admin on November 3, 2009

jakarta

Tranzeo announced the company has received the first volume production order targeted for Indonesian operators worth US$5.4M.

PT. Teknologi Riset Global (TRG) in partnership with Tranzeo has developed a family of WiMAX solutions operating at 2.3GHz and 3.3GHz in support of the recently available spectrum in Indonesia. Several operators are in various stages of evaluating and deploying the TRG solution with full scale deployments expected to begin in Q1 2010. In support of the government’s requirement to develop local telecommunications capability, the jointly developed products will be produced in Jakarta, Bandung and Batam, Indonesia.

The addition of the Indonesian purchase order increases Tranzeo’s current backlog of all purchase orders for 2009 and 2010 to US$12.8M.… Read the rest

P1 Approved to Roll Out WiMax in East Malaysia

Kathleen Regalado (Kathleen@goingwimax.com) on October 13, 2009

p1 malaysia

Packet One Networks (P1) announced today that it has received the necessary approvals to roll out its P1 W1Max service in East Malaysia.

In order to get as many Malaysians as possible to join the WiMAX revolution, the P1 W1MAX roll-out will begin simultaneously in Sabah and Sarawak in first quarter 2010. This P1 WiMax service will allow East Malaysians in cities such as Kuching, Miri, Bintulu, Kota Kinabalu, Sandakan and Tawau to enjoy the freedom of P1 W1MAX broadband as early as in second quarter 2010. P1 W1MAX is primed to meet the tremendous demand for broadband in Sabah and Sarawak.

P1 chief executive officer Michael Lai says “East Malaysia is a market of tremendous importance to P1. We’re truly excited and feeling very gung ho about empowering the people of both Sabah and Sarawak with WiMax soon. The household broadband penetration rates was at 13.6 per cent in Sarawak and 9.5 per cent in Sabah at the end of 2008 which is very low compared to the national average. ‘The deployment of WiMAX broadband is crucial in achieving the national household broadband penetration target of 50 per cent by 2010,” says Michael Lai.

With the fastest wireless broadband network in the country, P1 expects to contribute positively to East Malaysia’s economy, especially within the small and medium enterprise community and local state industries such as tourism. “Time and again, studies have proven that the increase in broadband penetration has a positive effect on the economic growth of a state and a country as a whole. Michael Lai says that with “P1 W1MAX available in the state soon, we plan to contribute positively to this potential growth”.… Read the rest

WiMax Subscribers to Reach 24 Million by 2014 in Asia Pacific

admin on October 12, 2009 | 1 comment

Asia-Pacific

The Asia Pacific region keeps leading the world in WiMax innovation, as countries like Japan, India and Korea continue to invest in the technology, with maverick operators in neighboring countries following suit, industry analyst firm Frost & Sullivan reported recently.

However, China recently refused to license WiMax in its area, the firm said. “The fact that China has not supported WiMAX, preferring instead to back the homegrown TD-SCDMA 3G standard, is particularly unnerving for the technology’s prospects in the region,” said Shaker Amin, industry analyst, Frost & Sullivan. The irony is that Chinese infrastructure giants Huawei Technologies and ZTE are two of the world’s largest WiMax vendors. “”Even grimmer still, important markets such as India and Thailand, both of which also hold great potential for WiMAX, have fallen behind in issuing WiMAX licenses and spectrum allocation in the 2.3 and 2.5GHz bands,” Amin added.

Aside from sluggish adoption in some countries, Amin added that weak operator support, high equipment prices, and HSPA (High-Speed Packet Access) and LTE (Long-Term Evolution) competition continue to plague WiMax adoption in Asia Pacific.

Despite these setbacks, the firm estimates the subscriber base in the region to amount to 24 million by 2014, with revenues of up to $6.4 billion. “We believe that the region holds the best prospects for WiMAX services in terms of subscriber uptake and future innovation,” said Amin, adding that much of Asia-Pac, compared to the rest of the world, still lack 3G spectrum and broadband connectivity.

For this reason, Amin noted that it’s now or never for operators to adopt WiMax. “We believe that the key focus of WiMAX will be to provide basic data connectivity in underserved markets at around the 1Mbps level, and as a precursor or complement to HSPA and LTE technologies where spectrum is scarce,” he explained.… Read the rest

Asia-Pacific Deployment to Double if China Licenses WiMax

Eliza Nguyen on October 8, 2009

wimax-china-deployment-Asia-Pacific

Cellular-News reports that the Asia-Pacific region is the front runner in the 2009 WiMax innovation race. Tier-1 operators such as Japan’s KDDI, India’s Tata Communications, Reliance Communications, and Korea Telecom continue to heavily invest in the technology. The APAC region is also the stage to non-conformist WiMax operators that are breaking ground for non-incumbent operators to use the technology.

Surprisingly, 3G spectrum and broadband connectivity are still missing in much of the APAC region; yet, “[…] the region holds the best prospects for WiMax services in terms of subscriber uptake and future innovation,” says Frost & Sullivan industry analyst Shaker Amin.

According to Huawei, China’s leading infrastructure giant, “the Asia Pacific Region embodies the first potential market to which WiMax is likely to be widely deployed. However WiMax is currently in its infancy, and [Huawei is] looking forward to its evolution and, by 2010, a wide subscriber base.”

At the end of 2008, Amin estimated that some 3.6 billion people in the underserved territories of APAC will yet have to adopt some type of broadband services. This niche market indicates strong likelihood for the WiMax life cycle to remain longer in the growth stage.

Despite the great expectations, potential operators face deployment challenges due to Chinese government’s refusal to license WiMax. “The fact that China has not supported WiMax, preferring instead to back the homegrown TD-SCDMA 3G standard, is particularly unnerving for the technology’s prospects in the region,” Amin states. “Even grimmer still, important markets such as India and Thailand, both of which also hold great potential for WiMax, have fallen behind in issuing WiMax licenses and spectrum allocation in the 2.3 and 2.5GHz bands,” he adds.

Ironically, Huawei Technologies and ZTE, two key Chinese technology providers, are among the largest WiMax dealers globally.

A new market research analysis conducted by Frost & Sullivan estimates that the WiMax subscriber base in the region – covering 17 APAC countries excluding China – might top 24 million by the end of 2014, which would convert into revenues of an estimated US$6.4 billion. Amin believes that these approximations could double if the Chinese government were to change their position on WiMax.

While some Asian markets have been slow in allocating spectrum to WiMax, other markets such as Australia, Malaysia, the Philippines and Singapore have seen substantial increase in the wireless broadband subscriptions. Despite the odds, “with HSPA gaining momentum … Read the rest

Coming Soon: More WiMax Services to be offered in Taiwan

Kathleen Regalado (Kathleen@goingwimax.com) on October 5, 2009 | 1 comment

taiwan

Digitimes has announced that Vmax Telecom, Taiwan based WiMax operator, is ready to launch wireless services.

As one of the six Wimax operators in Taiwan, Vmax who is awaiting approval from the National Communication Commission (NCC) to start its commercial operations has completed the first phase of the WiMax infrastructure. In order to promote their new service Vmax aims to push sales of its services to businesses first. They have teamed up with IT companies, and the National Taiwan University of Science and Technology.

It appears that everyone is on board with Vmax Telecom’s new venture to launch wireless services. It has been reported that WiMax equipment vendor Alvarion has set up a branch office in Taiwan in order to strengthen its corperation with local WiMax operators. Alvarion has already established business relations with Vmax Telecom; they have also made contact with Tatung Info Comm another local Wimax operator who is expanding its WiMax coverage in Southern Taiwan.

One can not wait to see what this wireless launch will do for Taiwan.… Read the rest

India auctions off licenses for 3 WiMax spectra

Eliza Nguyen on October 3, 2009 | 1 comment

India-Wimax-Auction-2009
According to Network World, the Indian government plans to auction off three WiMax spectrum licenses in the country in December. 10 days before the WiMax auction, the government will be completing the issue of three 3G licenses. The bid for the 3G spectrum starts at $716 million per operator and at $360 million for the WiMax spectrum.

The licensing of 3G mobile-phone services and fixed wireless broadband (IEEE 802.16d WiMax standard) services will make India about $5.1 billion, India’s IT/ Telecommunications Minister, Andimuthu Raja said. “Since the number of slots are only four, the auction price will be more,” Raja stated and he has a good point. Given that the auctions are open to foreign companies, there will likely be intense competition to win the licenses among the local operators and foreign giants such as NTT DoCoMo, AT&T and Deutsche Telekom, skyrocketing the prices into the billions.

The Indian government already handed out 3G licenses to the state-owned service providers Bharat Sanchar Nigam and Mahanager Telephone Nigam, in early 2009. India is the second largest wireless market worldwide with 415.25 million current subscribers according to figures from c. Nevertheless, most of it comes from mobile voice and SMS function rather than from wireless Internet access.

The WiMax Forum predicts that India will comprise 20% of the WiMax market (or 19 million subscribers) in 2012. The Economic Times of India reported that a study by US market research firm Strategy Analytics believes India will become the largest WiMax user base in the Asia-Pacific by 2013, reaching 14 million by 2013 and growing annually at 130%. With these forecasts, the future looks bright for the four companies that will win the WiMax spectrum. Taking into consideration a population of one billion, it may be one of the greatest ROI currently offered in the global market.… Read the rest

Telkom will deploy WiMax in Indonesia in Q1 2010

Eliza Nguyen on September 28, 2009

“And the winner is… -PT Telekomunikasi Indonesia (Telkom).” According to TeleGeography, Indonesia’s largest telecoms company announced that it will deploy the country’s first WiMax networkin the first quarter of 2010. In an interview with the Jakarta Post, Telekom director Ermady Dahlan said that the company is finishing paperwork that will allow them to obtain the operational license from the Indonesian government. Spokesman for the Indonesian Ministry of Communications and Information Gatot Dewa Broto explained that the ministry requires Telekom to pass a series of feasibility tests, before it will issue them the license as planned by the end of October.

WiMAX is a 4G technology that provides wireless Internet transmission of data using high-throughput broadband connections over long distances without having to build costly infrastructure. With a coverage of some 30 miles in radius from each base station, wimax does not require a large number of transmission towers. Therefore, WiMax involves relatively low costs in investment compared to 3G technologies.

According to Jakarta Post, Telkom was one of eight companies to receive WiMAX broadband licences from the government in August this year. Minister of Information and Communication, Mohammad Nuh, said the eight winners of operating licences fulfilled the main criteria, including having ‘sufficient infrastructure’ and a minimum usage of 30 and 40 percent of local products. The full list of winners is PT Telkom, PT Indosat Mega Media, PT Internux, PT First Media, PT Jasnita Telekomindo, PT Berca Hardayaperkasa, PT Rahajasa Media Internet (also known as the Indonesian WiMAX Consortium), and a consortium comprising PT Comtronics Systems and PT Adiwarta Perdania. Even though all eight fulfill the requirements, Telekom will have the honor of being the first to launch a Fourth Generation network in the country.… Read the rest

Wimax in Taiwan

admin on April 14, 2009

Taiwan’s Far EasTone Telecom (FET), the only Taiwan telecom operator with both cellular and WiMAX networks, has awarded Motorola additional contracts to expand its WiMAX network in Taichung, Taiwan in April 2009. Motorola will deploy its WAP access point portfolio, Motorola’s high-performance base stations for WiMAX networks, and integrate Connectivity Service Network (CSN) Authentication, Authorization and Accounting (AAA)/Home Agent (HA) solution to extend FET’s existing network and provide functions like access control and billing. FET is expanding its WiMAX network as part of the operator’s commitment to theM-Taiwan project, a government initiative to accelerate WiMAX ecosystem development and create a city-wide broadband network. The projects are now underway and are expected to be completed by 3Q 2009.

InfoComm formally launched the first commercial WiMax broadband wireless network in Taiwan for business on Penghu, a group of small islands west of Taiwan, on Monday April, 27 2009. Tatung InfoComm is offering several specials to Penghu’s 93,000 citizens to sign up for the new high speed wireless Internet access service. Anyone who signs up for unlimited monthly WiMax service that includes both a WiMax card for their laptop PC as well as a WiMax modem for their home between now and June 30 will pay NT$1,680 (US$50) per month. The minimum price for monthly service will be NT$1000 per month after the special introductory rates expire.

Taiwan’s Tatung University became on april 21, 2009 the first university campus to be covered entirely by Mobile WiMAX (802.16e), featuring Alcatel-Lucent’s WiMAX solutions. The wimax network launched yesterday is intended to serve as a platform for R&D, like the one Clearwire is currently deploying in Silicon Valley, and is accessible by more than 4,000 students and professors. Alcatel-Lucent provided the wireless infrastructure along with various innovative WiMAX application services, includingsmart metering, digital video surveillance systems, IPTV, PS3 gaming , IMS, and high-speed video streaming . Other companies such as Accton Wireless Broadband, ASUSTeK, China Television, dmedia, D-Link, Gemtek, Intel Taiwan, Polycom Asia Pacific PTE, MOXA Technologies, Quanta Microsystems, and ZyXEL Communications announced their participation in the project. VIA is providing 8.9″ WiMAX enabled VIA OpenBook mini-notes to the lab so that students and faculty can connect anywhere indoors or out on the university campus grounds.

Tatung University’s WiMAX 16e experimental network is also supported by the Tatung InfoComm, a WiMAX operator in Taiwan, providing wimax base stations, indoor and outdoor CPEs, PCMCIA/Express cards. Tatung InfoComm … Read the rest

Wimax in Japan

admin on April 14, 2009

Tokyo, Yokohama, Kawasaki – Japan WIMAX

UQ Communications will kick-off its Wimax initiative in Japan by letting its customers try it for free. The residents of three cities in Japan Tokyo, Yokohama and Kawasaki will receive free Wimax service starting February 2009. The free trial will run until the end of June at which point subscribers would have to pay approximately $50 a month in order to keep their service. This price is lower than what people in Japan pay nowadays for a comparable High Speed Packet Access. UQ is distributing WiMax cards for free as a part of this trial.

Haneda Airport

UQ Communications announced on April 2009 UQ WiMAX service will be available in Haneda Airport – both Terminalｓ 1 and 2. Within the next years, UQ WiMAX service will be expanded in succession to other airports across Japan. Haneda Airport located in Ōta, Tokyo is one of the two primary airports serving the Greater Tokyo Area. UQ, the major japanese telecom operator with WiMAX spectrum licenses founded in 2007, has posted an aggressive deployment plan and is expecting to attract 300,000 subscribers to its WiMAX service at the end of the 2009 fiscal year. In the following years, UQ expects to attract several million subscribers in the Japanese market and aims to cover more than 90% of the population by 2012.… Read the rest

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