A techno economic analysis

1. Techno-Economic analysis of WiMAX
and 3G on the Indian Industry
Wimax
That a strong correlation exists between connectivity and economy is not a new
concept. It has always been at the root of every new development in the
technical sector. At this time of high cost and lack of space, to go wireless is the
only option available. And Wimax is the right step towards this goal.
So what is Wimax? Well to start with, it’s a wireless digital communication
system and is also known as IEEE 802.16. Wimax is an abbreviation for
Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access. It enables the last mile
wireless broadband access. Wimax is a second-generation protocol that allows
for more efficient bandwidth use, interference avoidance, and is intended to
allow higher data rates over longer distances.
In the early 1990s various groups started promoting last mile fixed wireless
access solution. The goal was to mix two very different set of features. One was
to possess the reliability and capacity of wire lines and the other was to have
flexibility and ease of deployment of the wireless. IEEE 802.16 was written by a
working group established by IEEE Standards Board in 1999 to develop
standards for the global deployment of broadband Wireless Metropolitan Area
Networks. Since 1999 many updates have been incorporated in the standards.
This is the standard that developed the Wimax. Today, Wimax has an already
established global ecosystem for device manufacture and support which
services over 455 commercial Wimax networks in 135 countries covering 430
million people.

2. Wimax can provide broadband wireless access upto 30 miles for fixed stations
and 3-10 miles for mobile stations. It doesn’t suffer from interference and can
operate on both licensed and non-licensed frequencies. It can be deployed to
provide mobile broadband or at home broadband connectivity across whole
cities. VoIP is a technology with the help of which voice can be transmitted via
the internet. IPTV supports internet television services. Both these technology
helps in connecting very easily and cheaply. Wimax supports them both and
thus helps in reducing communication costs by a great deal. Last but not the
least major feature of Wimax is its easy deployment. It can be easily configured
at a very rapid pace. This helps in regenerating communication to and from
underdeveloped or disaster hit areas very easily.
In India, Wimax was launched on 2nd February 2010, in Kerala by BSNL. The
strong correlation between broadband proliferation and economic development
is unchallenged. The lackluster performance of the Broadband market in India is
primarily attributed to the economic and technical non feasibility of fixed line
infrastructure. The only solution has to be wireless. Wimax, with its superior
performance and low costs, is a true winner. It provides the telecom companies
the option of providing high speed broadband connection at affordable prices.
Wimax will help the Government to unlock the true potential of the rural areas by
increasing productivity of assets and improving learning & education programs,
healthcare and other social services which are critical in bringing social and
economic prosperity.
Its superior performance and competitive pricing makes it a very essential tool
for improving the communication channel of this country. With a wide global
infrastructure already in place, its deployment in India will not face much of a
problem. It will result in a wide penetration of broadband services in both rural
and urban areas which surely will result in the mass development of this nation.

3. 3G
Small is the new big thing in today’s world. Be it smaller business or be it
nanotechnology. Everybody today prefers small. Thus it’s natural to opt for a
device that helps in connecting to the world and also is small. It will be so much
easier if a phone can do what only complex laptops and computers could do in
past. 3 G brings all the features of these devices to a phone and also at a much
higher speed. Mobile telephony allowed us to talk on the move and the internet
turned raw data into helpful services that people found easy to use. 3 G
incorporates both these technology into one.
So what is 3 G? 3 G is a family of standards of standards for mobile
telecommunications fulfilling specifications by the International
Telecommunication Union. It is also known as International Mobile
Communication-2000(IMT-2000). It aims to harmonize 3 G system to provide
global roaming. It supports simultaneous use of data and speech and provides a
very high speed. The networks of 3G allows one to browse quickly through web
pages, watch on-demand video programs, download and play music, videos and
3D games, watch streaming videos and music videos and have a video
conference with others located on the other side of the plant. It is planned and
designed for smart multimedia cellular phones.
The 3 G technology was first launched by NTT DoCoMo in Japan in 2001 and
was branded FOMA. Then it was adopted by South Korea. Today 3 G
penetration in both these countries stands at about 70%. It was gradually
accepted in both European and American nations. By December 2007, 3 G was
available in 40 countries. India entered in 3 G arena a little late. BSNL launched
3 G in Bihar in the year 2008. Right now BSNL and MTNL are the only two
telecom companies in India which provides 3 G facilities. A bidding process was
undertaken this year to decide on the mobile operators who can provide 3 G to
Indian customers. It’s forecasted that 3 G will become a household feature in
India by 2011.

4. The first generation (1G) began in the early 80's with commercial deployment of
Advanced Mobile Phone Service (AMPS) cellular networks which used
Frequency Division Multiplexing Access (FDMA) to carry analog voice over
channels in the 800 MHz frequency band. The second generation (2G) emerged
in the 90's when mobile operators deployed two competing digital voice
standards. In North America, some operators adopted IS-95, which used Code
Division Multiple Access (CDMA) to multiplex up to 64 calls per channel in the
800 MHz band. Across the world, many operators adopted the Global System
for Mobile communication (GSM) standard, which used Time Division Multiple
Access (TDMA) to multiplex up to 8 calls per channel in the 900 and 1800 MHz
bands. 3 G was introduced to facilitate growth, increase bandwidth, and support
more diverse applications. It consists of the following technologies: -
• W-CDMA (Wide-band Code Division Multiple Access)
• CDMA-2000 (Based on the Interim Standard-95 CDMA standard)
• TD-SCDMA (Time-division synchronous code-division multiple-access)
3G enables users to transmit voice, data, and even moving images. In order to
realize these services, 3G improves the data transmission speed up to 144Kbps
in a high-speed moving environment, 384Kbps in a low-speed moving
environment, and 2Mbps in a stationary environment. 3G provides services like
Internet connection, transmission of large-scale data and moving contents
photographed by digital cameras and videos, and software downloading. It also
provides far more security than its predecessors.
With a tele-density of 53%, the scope of 3 G in India is immense. The ease of
availing information is a major stepping stone of becoming an economic world
power. 3 G makes accessing information affordable which will go a long way in
penetrating the rural world. Staying connected always, helps in collecting
information while being mobile. Though the full potential of 3 G is still waiting to
be unleashed, the future only looks brighter.