I switched to the session on “Wireless Delivery: Broadband for all” from the one on infotainment which seemed to be rather introductory and focused mostly on the US market and product features. Parag Kar, Senior Director, Government Affairs, Qualcomm - India and SAARC said that technology should be appropriately placed in the learning curve for usage to pick up. The primary problem is of spectrum crunch, but 3G will be able to accelerate the growth of existing 2G networks and integrate voice and broadband. The challenge is ubiquity. In India, if you have a 3G network overlay on top of the existing network, consumers will be able to afford it, creating better bandwidth capacity. The USO fund initiatives will also help make it more affordable. Technology matures in the learning curve and there is enough enhanced functionality available today.
Ravi Chandran of Telsima said that the biggest challenge in India is that the ARPU is sub $10, cost of CPE needs to be sub $100-150, and there is no line of sight for ease if installation. He feels that the lack of good broadband is the reason for lack of PC penetration, and that prohibits the growth of WiMax. There’s also the issue of the standards war. For Broadband Wireless Access, we have only 100 Mhz in 3.3 GHz band, which is non-standard, and spectrum charges are not in line with large scale deployment. All major operators are considering wireless as a mode for speedy broadband rollout. India can be the largest WiMax market in the world, and there’s the opportunity to own the technology. Its already happening in urban areas – operators have spread pre-WiMax equipment in 3.3 GHz band. Current focus is enterprise access, with a targeted area of coverage.