Lil Mohan, the head of WiMAX technologies at Intel Corporation, has said that the average deployment of the up-to-date fourth generation (4G) telecom technology in India would be comparable to that of Russia in its nascent stage with the introduction of WiMAX.
The average download of WiMAX (Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access), designed to give people high-speed access to net over long distances, soon after its deployment in Russia last year was ten gigabits a month. It will be in that range in India, Mr. Mohan who was in Hyderabad last week-end as part of his India visit, told The Hindu .
Mr. Mohan, who represented the world's largest semiconductor chip maker at meetings convened by Department of Technology with service providers at New Delhi last week, hoped the commercial operations of WiMAX to pick up in India later this year though they took two years since the foundation of national licence operator in Russia. He expected the bidding process for WiMAX to be over in the country by April-end or first week of May.
He said WiMAX was the answer to people's demand for lower price and more bandwidth in internet usage. Retail consumers and railway bookings would form the bulk users.
Mr. Mohan, who is the Managing Director at Intel, felt that four slots each on the block for 22 telecom circles, each representing a State, would have been the ideal choice for India against two slots finalised by the government for auction of WiMAX mobile services to private service providers.
“The Government allotted 20 megahertz (MHz) of spectrum for each slot but we wanted 30 MHz for four slots in tune with the demand for more spectrum in most countries. At 20 MHz, the situation is a little tight,” he added.
Mr. Mohan also said the speed capacity in WiMAX was more than ten times that of regular data card. Moreover, the broadband subscriber base could not be increased by digging lines. We have to install base stations in air at existing towers to achieve that.”
