Are we about to see a repeat of the feeding frenzy for 3G
licences that
cost network operators £22.5bn, hamstrung a fast roll-out of
the new technology, and
kept mobile calls costs high?
This autumn, in its single largest release of radio spectrum,
Ofcom will sell off
frequencies
in the 2.6Ghz band suitable for
WiMax and advanced technology
such as 3.5G and
4G mobile networks.
WiMax provides high-speed, point-to-point connections via
radio. It is an alternative to fixed wires. But it uses the
same part of
the spectrum that 3G mobile networks use.
While the auction ramps up, mobile network operators are also
testing high speed packet access (HSPA Plus).
Theoretical rates on
3.5G high speed download packet access (HSDPA) links top out at
around 14.4Mb/s, but
HSPA
Plus offers 42Mb/s. In practice, speeds are likely to be much
lower. The minimum speed on HSDPA can be as low as 64kb/s, while
the minimum speed on WiMax is more like 1Mb/s.
The industry is split as to whether there is sufficient demand
for new spectrum.
Gerard MacNamee, CTO of
UK
Broadband , says: "There are people who will never have a fixed
line to their house. How do they get a link? It isn't via (fixed
line) broadband DSL.
What Ofcom is thinking is that every broadband line is the same,
and every service is the same, and it's not."
UK Broadband, a subsidiary of Hong Kong-based PCCW, has rolled
out a plug-and-play wireless broadband network based that supports
both packet and circuit-switched links in the Thames Valley and
some parts of London.
In February, Ofcom changed its 3G licence to support the mobile
version of WiMax (16e). "We'll convert existing network to mobile
16e. We're waiting to see what the 2.6GHz auction yields," Gerard
MacNamee says.
But fixed broadband is already well-established in Europe, says
Margaret Hopkins,
an associate at Analysys Mason. "Densely populated parts of
Europe and parts of Eastern Europe are very well supplied with
fixed infrastructure and they're also getting broadband rolled out
over the 3G network. In the Czech Republic there's been a big
take-up of WiFi, but that's an exception."
However, real-world broadband speeds tend to be lower than
advertised ones. The problem is contention, says John Earley, head
of strategic development at
Manchester
Metronet. John Earley believes both WiMax and 3.5G are
temporary and unsatisfactory. Users have to contend with each other
for bandwidth at the base station, he says. His company's 5GHz
technology offers the radio equivalent of a non-contended leased
line link, which makes it attractive to corporate customers.
The other caveat is coverage. Mobile 3.5G providers pretty much
blanket the country. Right now, WiMax and WiMax-style services
cover a few main cities such as Manchester, Liverpool, Dublin and
Birmingham. That limits their utility to, well, utilities and local
firms that need only local high speed links.
"In the UK, we've been waiting for WiMax technology to mature,"
says Graham Currier,
business
development director at
Freedom4, the joint venture between Pipex and Intel Capital. In
Manchester, Graham Currier is offering wireless services based
around WiMax protocols in the 3.5MHz band, and has made its
basestations mobile-ready.
"SMEs are ideal candidates," he says. "The service is equivalent
to a sub-leased incumbent's SDSL line. It's not a solid 10Mb link
(but) it's fairly serious bandwidth, a couple of megabits per
second up and down, and a ten to one contention ratio," he
says.
This might also appeal to businesses as a back-up link for
business continuity purposes.
While wireless players prepare for the 2.6Ghz licence auction,
there is yet another G on the horizon - 4G. This purely internet
protocol (IP)-based technology also operates in the 2.6Ghz band but
offers peak download rates in the hundreds of Mb/s range. It is
also compatible with earlier mobile standards. This means a user
will switch undetectably between 3.5G and 4G cells on the move.
TeliaSonera announced last month it will build a 4G network in
Sweden, but 4G's UK debut depends on who wins the local spectrum
auction. It is easy to see existing mobile network operators moving
to 4G if they have the right frequencies, but they may have to
fight the WiMax networks for licences.
It is a battle Ofcom and the government hope will repeat the
windfall from the 3G auction. For users, the prospect of continuing
highly priced wireless calls is less enticing.
Wireless speeds
Wireless network technologies work at different speeds. As a
rule of thumb, a mobile telephone call requires at least 64kb/s.
WiFi provides theoretical bandwidth of up to 54Mb/s when using the
802.11g service. The as-yet unratified 802.11n service will boost
that to 600Mb/s. In urban WiFi conditions, those data rates are
likely to be much lower. Much depends on contention rates and 'cut
through' rates (how many router hops exist in a meshed WiFi network
before signals reach a backhaul link).