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Korean Defense Ministry to Adopt WiBro

The Ministry of Information (MIC) and Communication said Thursday that more cutting-edge information technologies, especially WiBro based strategic mobile networks, will be applied to the defense sector

The MIC said that the Defense Ministry would develop quadrupled legged robot, surveillance sensor network, portable Internet based strategic mobile networks. The national information defense information network will also be sophisticated to adopt the latest technologies.

The Defense Ministry plans to create ubiquitous environment in military units. RFID, USN, telematics, biometrics systems will be installed in some units and will be tested if they could be helpful to strengthen the country’s military power, said the MIC.

It was said that the Defense Ministry picked up WiBro as the system ensures security and high speed data transmission and an easy upgrade as it’s a home grown technology.

It is alleged that the US forces also consider utilizing Mobile WiMAX as the next generation communication technology.

India Is a Major Market for WiMAX

The state-owned telecom giant Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL) has started deployment of WiMAX equipment, Aperto Networks' PacketMax 5000 base stations, and subscriber units across six cities and four rural areas in India.

The six initial cities getting the WiMAX equipment are Kolkata (in West Bengal), Bangalore (in Karnataka), Chennai (in Tamil Nadu), Ahmedabad (in Gujarat), Hyderabad (in Andhra Pradesh), and Pune (in Maharastra). The deployment, which will also cover four rural districts in the State of Haryana, is planned for completion in January.

The WiMAX network will enable BSNL to offer enterprise customers a wide range of value-added, high-bandwidth data communications services, such as MPLS, VPN, leased line, and Internet access, as well as VoIP, telemedicine, e-education, e-governance, and e-commerce in remote areas.
 
"BSNL is a leader in the world telecom landscape, and its drive to deploy WiMAX across India is testament to its leadership. Aperto is delighted to have the opportunity to support BSNL's plan in this strategic deployment," said Mike Pratt, CEO for Aperto Networks.
 
"India is quickly emerging as a major market for WiMAX," said Adlane Fellah, principal analyst, Maravedis Research and co-author of a comprehensive report on WiMAX in India. "With a population of more than one billion and a growing economy, India lacks the wireline broadband infrastructure to support its growing economy. India is a gigantic market for wireless broadband, and the adoption of WiMAX will only accelerate as new spectrum is opened up to support the government's broadband policy. In this context, Aperto has proven its ability to meet the needs of major service providers in India and continues to capture a dominant share of the Indian WiMAX market."
 
"The demand for broadband connectivity is rapidly growing in India and thanks to its performance, time to market, and cost advantages, WiMAX is best positioned to serve this huge Indian market," said Manish Gupta, vice president of marketing and alliances for Aperto Networks. "We are excited about our role in partnering with India's world-class telecommunications companies to effectively address this growing demand, and we are scaling up our capabilities and investments accordingly,” he added. Aperto Networks is ramping up its investments in India, particularly in R&D, hardware and software development, and sales and customer support. The company is also expanding its channel and technology partnerships across the country.
 
According to a report by research firms Maravedis and Tonse, Telecom India will have 13 million WiMAX subscribers by 2012. The demand for wireless broadband gear is going to add up to about $4.5 billion by 2012. Still, these numbers should be taken with requisite caution. The cost of transmission gear remains high, and the customer premise equipment is still expensive by local standards. Given that the fixed wireless frequency of choice in India is 3.3 to 3.4 GHz, India is unlikely to benefit from the economies of scale that would come with WiMAX. Globally, WiMAX signals are likely to be transmitted in the 2.5 to 2.69 GHz band.

Contributed by Uday Lal Pai

"We've got the Most Advanced Mobile WiMAX Chipset,"says Beceem

Beceem Communications, which grabbed attention for supplying chipset to mobile WiMAX devices that Samsung Electronics supplied to KT, Korea’s biggest telecommunications service provider, showed off its technical prowess again in ITU World by announcing that it was sampling the first silicon for Wave 2 of the WiMAX broadband wireless standard.

Beceem Introduces Industry’s First Mobile WiMAX Wave 2 Terminal Chipset

Lars Johnsson, Vice President of Business Development at Beceem said to TelecomsKorea that the BCS200 solution added smart antenna and MIMO to offer a better throughput, and the chipset is the first ever Wave 2 chipset in the industry

Beceem said that the chipset offers base band as well as radio chip (RF) partitioning so that it could provide an optimal solution to its customers.
 
Lars Johnsson said that Sprint’s decision to opt for mobile WiMAX would have a positive impact in the industry as the mobile operator had chosen advanced technology to compete with Verizon Wireless and Cingular. He said that Beceem had expanded its presence in mobile WiMAX by cooperating ZTE and Alcatel as well as Korean vendors.

KT Delays Expansion of WiBro Coverage Again

KT, the world first WiBro commercial service provider since June in name only is reportedly to delay expanding service coverage. For 6 months after the launch of the service, KT has attracted only a handful of subscribers. Accordingly, the operator’s original plan to increase subscribers in Seoul mainly from early 2007 will be halted inevitably. 

An official from LG Electronics said, "To upgrade WiBro network, KT has to postpone the coverage build-up by 3 to 4 months. As a result, WiBro devices such as handsets and PCMCIA card for laptop computers initially scheduled to be released in the Q1, 2007 will come out only in the Q2,” adding that the change of plan must be unavoidable for Samsung Electronics, too.

Meanwhile, KT recently carried out reorganization and appointed Hyun-myung Pyo from KT to replace Won-pyo Hong as the company’s WiBro division chief. A KTF official said, "Being versatile and energetic, Mr. Pyo is expected to make great contribution to boosting WiBro.”

SK Telecom to Invest 117b Won in WiBro

SK Telecom, Korea’s dominant mobile operator, announced Friday that it makes 117 billion Won of investment for the next four months to expand WiBro service coverage. The investment is to be spent on hot zones in 20 cities and subways.

SK Telecom said that the investment was previously planned for this year but has not be executed. SK Telecom started WiBro service in six hot zones around colleges in June this year but remains reserved to expand the service. It is alleged that there is few paid subscribers for the service.

SK Telecom recently agreed with KT, Korea’s biggest telecommunications provider, to build base stations in subways in Seoul.