WiMax business case weak: Qualcomm chief
14-08-2009
Qualcomm's India and South Asia President Kanwalinder Singh feels that the business case for WiMax is weak, except as a fixed broadband niche "where it will soon be challenged by LTE". More broadly, the business case for standalone players in 3G is not there: "the new entrant will either have to set up new towers or hire them - either way, it cannot compete with the incumbent players"
In a talk with Business Standard's Sunil Jain, Singh said WiMax "does not integrate with any 3G or 2G technologies - it does not do either voice or broadband well in a mobility context. And since it is being deployed at a higher frequency than what the existing 2G networks use, it will require additional base stations (compared to 3G) for full coverage in an area.
At best, Wimax may end up serving fixed urban broadband niches, where it will soon be challenged by LTE, which has worldwide momentum and integrates seamlessly with 3G and 2G, and therefore will not need so many base stations.
He felt that the business case for WiMax "is negative just on the opex. For incumbent players (with 3G/LTE), the opex is already paid for by voice subscribers, so the broadband revenue is the upside. ...In the final analysis, lower spectrum reserve price for Wimax is irrelevant since a Wimax network cannot cover opex outside dense urban pockets".
Can WiMax players recover more money doing VoIP also? Singh thinks not: "the packet voice business case is unviable due to the additional investments that will be required at each telco's switching centers....and additional base stations will be required"
"LTE will eventually end up using the BWA spectrum optimally in India....LTE devices - and I am sure there will be an LTE Blackberry or iPhone in the future - will be able to enjoy ultra broadband experience in dense urban pockets, while seamlessly integrating with 3G broadband in the rest of the cities and even with 2G data in a remote village. This kind of voice and broadband service experience cannot be provided by other technologies"
(full story in Business Standard, Aug 14, 2009)
In a talk with Business Standard's Sunil Jain, Singh said WiMax "does not integrate with any 3G or 2G technologies - it does not do either voice or broadband well in a mobility context. And since it is being deployed at a higher frequency than what the existing 2G networks use, it will require additional base stations (compared to 3G) for full coverage in an area.
At best, Wimax may end up serving fixed urban broadband niches, where it will soon be challenged by LTE, which has worldwide momentum and integrates seamlessly with 3G and 2G, and therefore will not need so many base stations.
He felt that the business case for WiMax "is negative just on the opex. For incumbent players (with 3G/LTE), the opex is already paid for by voice subscribers, so the broadband revenue is the upside. ...In the final analysis, lower spectrum reserve price for Wimax is irrelevant since a Wimax network cannot cover opex outside dense urban pockets".
Can WiMax players recover more money doing VoIP also? Singh thinks not: "the packet voice business case is unviable due to the additional investments that will be required at each telco's switching centers....and additional base stations will be required"
"LTE will eventually end up using the BWA spectrum optimally in India....LTE devices - and I am sure there will be an LTE Blackberry or iPhone in the future - will be able to enjoy ultra broadband experience in dense urban pockets, while seamlessly integrating with 3G broadband in the rest of the cities and even with 2G data in a remote village. This kind of voice and broadband service experience cannot be provided by other technologies"
(full story in Business Standard, Aug 14, 2009)
