Wimax Day Newsletters of April 24 and April 25, 2007
wimaxday.net
DBD introduces VoIP telephony service for WiMAX
BERLIN (WiMAX Day). The German WiMAX operator Deutsche Breitband Dienste GmbH (DBD) has introduced a new wireless VoIP service for which customers require neither a fixed -s in Germany.
DBD is marketing two products: “MAXXonair Clever” and “MAXXonair Comfort,” which combine two types of high-speed Internet and Voice with ISDN quality. MAXXonair Clever is provided at a monthly fee of € 29.99, with Internet access at speeds up to 2 Mbps, including a flat-rate for data. MAXXonair Comfort is offered to consumers for a monthly rate of € 39.99, which includes an additional telephone flat-rate for calls within the German fixed-line network. After a short trial period, both products will be offered in all other DBD networks.
VoIP everywhere
“With this offering we open a new chapter in the history of WiMAX,” said Fabio Zoffi, CEO of DBD. “In addition we’re driving the trend from fixed to mobile, meaning away from the fixed network towards wireless telephony and data communications.”
Because the WiMAX standard separates voice and data flows, DBD can offer Internet telephony comparable with ISDN quality. Customers also can keep their existing phone number and connect it to the service. After the MAXXonair connection has been installed, the user only must connect the existing phone to the Fritz!Box VoIP router included in the package.
DBD is not the only WiMAX operator profiting from VoIP services. WiMAX Telecom in Austria offers a VoIP service using the brand name “WiMAX Fon.” The service allows customers to switch their home telephone line from the fixed-line operator and offers number portability. Likewise, Unwired in Australia and Irish Broadband in Ireland are also offering similar versions of VoIP services.
The case for VoIP is growing in Europe. According to Forrester Research, some 12 percent of consumers in Europe now use VoIP for all or some of their telephone calls. This seems to be in line with statistics in Germany where nearly 11 percent of German households no longer own a fixed-line telephone.
Other innovations
“During the coming years DBD will deploy its WiMAX network throughout Germany. Thus everybody will be able to use the Internet from anywhere at anytime,” Zoffi noted in a company press release. DBD plans to offer more innovative WiMAX applications, including portable Internet access. DBD customers on the road will be able to access the Internet with their laptop computers wherever WiMAX is available. It is expected that Intel – a strategic investor in DBD – will start to equip laptop computers and notebooks with WiMAX chips in 2008.
------
Wateen plans WiMAX in Uganda
ABU DHABI (WiMAX Day). According to a report in ITP, the Emirates-based communications group Wateen Telecom plans to launch a WiMAX network in Uganda this year. Wateen CTO Shohidul Islam Miah said in the report that their “licence in Uganda covers both GSM and WiMAX deployments.”
Wateen already has experience deploying a WiMAX network in Pakistan, and the company is looking to deploy WiMAX in other countries as well. “We will utilise the lessons learned from our work in [Pakistan] as we move to other nations. We will also continue to expand coverage across Pakistan using WiMAX,” said Miah.
The Wateen network in Pakistan began construction last year with Motorola, and the company is planning a further expansion of the network to 22 cities.
------
Fukui Cable to test WiMAX
TOKYO (WiMAX Day). Japanese cable TV operator Fukui Cable has applied to the Japanese Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communication (MIC) for a special license to test WiMAX. The company intends to test WiMAX in Fukui city, in the Chubu region of Japan, not far from Kyoto.
According to a press release, Fukui Cable expects that the license will be granted soon and that testing of WiMAX will begin in June and last for thirty days. The company plans to install one base station, and connect one laptop PC, and an HD camera. Fukui Cable hopes to use WiMAX to transmit high-definition video images, and to support a disaster prevention monitoring system.
------
Maxis and Telekom Malaysia plan to launch WiMAX
KUALA LUMPUR (WiMAX Day). Maxis and Telekom Malaysia (TM) are the next GSM and fixed-line telecom operators to join the swelling ranks of WiMAX operators. Until now, neither company had committed to launch wireless broadband services in Malaysia, despite having licenses for 2.5 GHz spectrum.
Following the recent auction of 2.3 GHz spectrum in Malaysia, where spectrum was awarded to serveral operators such as YTL e-Solutions intent on launching WiMAX, both Maxis and TM now seem to understand the market potential and have both announced plans to launch WiMAX.
Maxis CEO Jamaludin Ibrahim said the company would start WiMAX services before the end of the year, according to a report by Bloomberg News Service. He noted that “the mobile market is saturated in Malaysia and broadband offers a significant growth opportunity with household penetration only standing at 14 percent.”
In January of this year, Maxis began testing WiMAX with Motorola at four sites in Kuala Lumpur. At the time, Dr Nikolai Dobberstein, senior general manager for Products & New Businesses, said “Mobile WiMAX plays a critical role in our wireless broadband strategy.”
The auction of 2.3 GHz spectrum last month excluded both Maxis and TM from the bidding process in an effort to increase competition in the telecommunications market. The Minister for Energy, Water and Communications, Datuk Seri Dr. Lim Keng Yaik, told reporters before the auction “now you know why we distribute the WiMAX licences to the small companies… the big fellows, including the Telekom Malaysia, already have the 2.5 GHz.”
At a conference last month in Kuala Lumpur, Dr. Lim Keng Yaik confirmed that “there is no problem for them [Maxis and TM] to roll out the WiMAX using the existing 2.5 GHz. Just go and talk with the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC) to get enough bandwidth for rolling out the WiMAX via 2.5 GHz.” Both companies are now working with the MCMC to increase the bandwidth of their spectrum.
The group CEO of Telekom Malaysia, Datuk Abdul Wahid Omar, told reporters recently that the capital required for deploying a WiMAX network has been approved in the company’s budget. “The Ministry has already come up with a statement that they expect the WiMAX operators to spend between RM250 million and RM300 million to deploy the network and we are prepared to invest that kind of money,” Wahid said.
For Telekom Malaysia, a WiMAX network will add significantly to their portfolio of products and services, which include fixed-line and Internet, as well as the mobile network Celcom. Wahid further noted that for TM “the promise of WiMAX is twofold, one is about the network, which is cheap compared to the rest because the reach is very far and you need fewer base stations to cover a larger area. The other area is the commitment made by Intel, who has stated that every notebook from end-2008 would be pre-loaded with a WiMAX chip.”
------
WiMAX to reach 8.3m users in China
BEIJING (WiMAX Day). At the WiMAX World Asia conference last week, new research from the Yankee Group was released that predicts the market for WiMAX in China will grow to 8.39 million users by 2011. The report also predicts that nearly half of the Chinese market for WiMAX will be comprised of subscribers to nomadic and mobile services. Amongst the big winners in the Chinese market will be local equipment vendors such as Huawei and ZTE.
------
WiMAX spectrum tender in Macedonia
SKOPJE (WiMAX Day). The Agency for Electronic Communications (AEC) in the Republic of Macedonia last week announced a public tender for 3.5 GHz spectrum. The tender will make available two national licenses in the frequency band 3400 Mhz ~ 3600 Mhz, as well as an additional three licenses for frequencies divided amongst six regions of the country. The minimum bid for a national license will be € 200,000 Euros, and the minimum bid for the regional licenses will be from € 20,000 to € 100,000 Euros, depending on the region. The deadline for the submission of bids will be May 21, 2007, and the auction will be opened at a public ceremony on May 30, 2007.
------ |
