OverSeas WiMax Roundup #6

Here’s a snapshot of the overseas action on the WiMax front:

UK

UK consumers may be offered even more options in the new year as Ofcom has announced a new set of auctions to sell off wireless spectrum.

Bidders will have until January 16th to place bids in the formerly called 3G extension band sell-off that will offer space on the 2010-2025 MHz and 2500-2690 MHz bands.

Ofcom wants to reorganise more than 400 MHz of spectrum that analysts say could be used for services such as wireless broadband, mobile television and fixed television or local TV stations.

Nomura analyst Martin Mabbutt stated in a research note: “The amount of spectrum available for allocation over the next couple of years is enormous within the context of spectrum bands, which offer the chance to develop services which have high value, thanks to the functionality attached to them.”

Bulgaria

Moovera Networks, a leading developer of fixed and mobile wireless access systems, today announced that its Moovbox product line of broadband gateways now supports FLASH-OFDM from Qualcomm Flarion Technologies for cellular wide area network connectivity. FLASH-OFDM (Fast Low-latency Access with Seamless Handoff - Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing) is an innovative wireless technology designed to deliver advanced Internet services in the mobile environment.

Broadband networks utilizing FLASH-OFDM have been deployed in various countries around the world, most recently in Finland. To address the market opportunity in Finland and other countries in Scandinavia and the Baltic, Moovera has appointed a new distributor Daimler Finland Oy who will develop sales and marketing activities throughout the region.

“Support for a wide range of carrier-class backhaul technologies is a key competitive advantage of the Moovbox product line,” said Jim Baker, Moovera CEO and founder. “FLASH-OFDM is an important technology not least as it can operate at low frequencies that cover much wider areas than traditional voice and data wireless networks such as 3G and WiMAX. By merging FLASH-OFDM with Wi-Fi access, our Moovbox gateway products can deliver Internet access to any Wi-Fi enabled device for industrial, public safety and commercial hotspot applications anywhere there is FLASH-OFDM coverage.”

Tajikistan

China’s Huawei has been selected by Babilon-T, the largest telecommunication operator in Tajikistan, to deploy the Central Asia’s first WiMAX commercial network. Under the terms of agreement, Huawei will provide an end-to-end Mobile WiMAX network, including distributed Base Station, Wireless Access Service Node-Gateway, Network Management Equipment and Terminals.

The network will cover the four major areas of Tajikistan, including its capital Dushanbe. Rollout will start immediately and is expected to launch during the first quarter of 2008.

To meet the increasing demand for broadband, and taking into account the mountainous terrain in Tajikistan, Babilon-T is adopting WiMAX technology to enable its subscribers to realize wireless broadband access.

China

KAOHSIUNG, the program aimed at building a WiMAX network across the city to facilitate wireless data transmission, was launched in August 2006, with the Industrial Development Bureau and the Chunghwa Telecom Company, Taiwan’s largest telecommunication services provider, providing financial subsidies.

Under the program, which is estimated to cost US$18.5 million, 25 base transceiver stations will be built in districts surrounding the main venues for The World Games to turn the city into a barrier-free environment for data transmission.

So far, five base stations have been completed, most of which are located along the Love River flowing through the city, the officials said.

Nigeria

The importance of Nigeria to the major IT players came to the fore recently when Intel Chairman, Mr. Craig Barrett visited the country. With earnings of over $35bn, Intel a global semi conductor leader is digging into the Nigerian market by way of being a major beneficiary when the IT market explodes.

And that is already happening, according to Barrett. He spared some time to speak to Vanguard’s Asst Editor, Communications, Okoh Aihe. The stuff will make a fascinating read.

Monday, Bruce spoke to us with quite some excitement and he left most of the major news for you to break. I like to find out from you, what is the major excitement about Nigeria and Africa at this particular point in time?

India

MUMBAI: VSNL, a Tata group company, is unlocking value in its broadband and retail internet business. It is looking to sell a part of its stake in the broadband venture, which had been recently hived off into a separate entity - Direct Internet.

This comes on the back of a similar move by VSNL, which has sold a 10% stake in its Sri Lankan subsidiary for 75 million Sri Lankan rupees to Sunshine Holdings, a Sri Lankan conglomerate.

VSNL is looking to sell 20% stake in Direct Internet. According to a Tata group source, a few financial investors have already shown an interest in buying into the company. As per rules, FDI in internet service providers is capped at 74%. VSNL’s broadband business already has a subscriber base of half-a-million across the country.

The stake sale comes at a time when the company is making strategic changes in its business model. Earlier, VSNL which was also the sole internet provider, accessed homes of customers through telephone lines of state owned companies like BSNL. However, in the last few years, as telecom firms have themselves become internet service providers, VSNL is finding it increasingly difficult to access last mile connectivity to customer homes.

Japan

KDDI and Willcom won in a bidding war, which also involved mobile carriers NTT DoCoMo (News - Alert) Inc. and Softbank Corp.

The Japanese government maintains tight controls over wireless services, and according to AP reports, it had stated previously that it would allow only two companies to offerWiMAX . Though other companies can provide WiMAX services, but they will have to lease the frequencies from KDDI or Willcom.

KDDI reportedly is planning to launch next-generation wireless broadband services in the summer of 2009 using the WiMAX standard through a joint venture with firms such as Intel Corp.

Pakistan

KARACHI: “Mobilink has invested over $2.5 billion in infrastructure, network rollout and the largest franchise, retail and customer services network across the nation. We plan to inject an additional $500 million in 2008 to meet the growing demands of our services and the needs of our customers,” said Zouhair A Khaliq, President and CEO of Mobilink in an exclusive interview to Daily Times.

He further said that Mobilink has progressed from voice to carrier-class nationwide services by completing its own 6,500 kilometre redundant fibre optic backbone network across Pakistan. It now plans to provide high-speed data connectivity in the urban and rural sector of Pakistan through WiMax services.

Being a developing country, the expansion of broadband networks and services is of high importance to the Pakistani economy. Broadband connections in the country currently stand at around 0.1 million. With the population figure at over 165 million, this will clearly place Pakistan’s economic development into the next stages of progress.

WiMax on the Move.