The C-DOT Alcatel Research Center (CARC) offers Wi-Max solutions to meet the needs of both the common man and the urban elite. Patrick Veron, CEO, CARC, is confident that technologies such as Wi-Max can help meet the needs of the rural and suburban regions. In an interview with tele.net, Veron comments on global technology trends, the Indian telecom sector and future growth areas…
What are the worldwide technology trends in the telecom sector?
The global telecom industry is undergoing a major transformation from legacy network architectures to more advanced and efficient network systems, leading to the concept of fixed-mobile convergence. Service providers’ core networks are migrating to next-generation networks and IP multimedia subsystems ?? flat, allIP network architectures allowing different types of communication traffic to be routed across the network efficiently and economically. Convergence also leads to consolidation of global telcos and vendor communities to achieve economies of scale and other benefits.
An interesting trend visible in both mature and emerging markets is seamless connectivity, which all service providers target to offer to meet end-user needs. For instance, mobile service providers want to offer broadband and fixed line service providers target to offer mobility services. Also, new entrants ?? cable and satellite companies for example ?? intend to provide both broadband and cellular voice services. Such changes are compelling service providers to evolve. The world is moving towards broadband wireless. Hence, according to me, the two major trends witnessed globally in the telecom sector are network transformation/convergence and the need for broadband wireless.
How do you perceive the growth opportunities in the Indian telecom industry, especially for equipment manufacturers?
The Indian market is currently experiencing explosive expansion as the world’s fastest growing telecom market. In 2006, the country’s third quarter (ended September 30) net subscriber additions exceeded those of China for the first time with 17.065 million new customers. If such development continues, according to industry analysts, India could achieve 300 million mobile subscriptions by 2009 ?? a year before its set target.
Also, of the 13 mobile carriers, only four or five are licensed to operate across the entire country. The Department of Telecommunications (DoT) is evaluating applications from several regional operators wanting to expand their networks. This, in turn, could accelerate the growth in subscriptions. Furthermore, TRAI has recently recommended the pricing for 3G and broadband wireless access (BWA) spectrum to offer mobile broadband services. All these advancements would lead to tremendous network developments, which will definitely represent growth for equipment manufacturers and application developers.
Which segments would do well in the coming years?
In a developing market like India, demand for basic voice services is still the key driver. This need can be addressed by significant network upgradation in the coverage and capacity of 2G technologies (GSM and CDMA families). This is confirmed by recent announcements by major operators to unveil aggressive network rollout plans that are measured in tens of millions of additional connections.
The demand for broadband is also ramping up. As offers from operators are rife and appealing in terms of price, I believe there will be noticeable growth in this domain. Value-added services are also picking up with announcements of video services from various operators, both GSM and CDMA. Though it is hard to gauge the customer usage pattern, which varies depending on the country, many Indian companies are well positioned to study and further benefit from this potential revenue stream. I have confidence in broadband as a public utility to bring medicine and educational services to the rural areas alongside fulfilling government initiatives (e-governance, etc.).
Network infrastructure would have to support the new data-intensive applications and address the untapped next billion customers in the rural and isolated areas in a cost-effective way. Wi-Max will have an important role in all of this, in particular in offering voice and broadband services to the mass market.
What is the future after 3G?
3G deployments will happen in India as well. The extent of these deployments and the targeted services are under investigation by service providers. However, it is known that 3G or any of its evolutions cannot be “bulletproof” in providing dataintensive services for the mass market. This is so because 3G was originally designed to deliver ubiquitous voice in a mobile environment.
In fact, with the need for more bandwidth, 3GPP (with its 3GLTE) and 3GPP2, its CDMA counterpart (with its EV-DO Rev. C), are pushing for OFDM and MIMO-based radio architectures in the air interface. The reasons are to make the best use of spectrum and also increase throughput.
Hence, whether it is called 3.75G or 4G, future radio access technologies will employ the above-mentioned techniques in their access. Wi-Max Rev-e supports these features from the beginning. Also, Wi-Max Rev-e has been selected as the 4G technology for nationwide deployment by Sprint Nextel in the US.
Where does India stand in comparison with other South Asian countries in terms of technology adoption?
It is exciting to witness the existing developments in India. With a record number of subscription uptakes in recent months, I am bullish about the potential of nascent communication technologies to meet the demand in such high-growth economies at affordable prices. And this is where CARC’s role is instrumental. We are bringing Wi-Max Rev-e solutions to more effectively address the needs of both the common man and the high-end elite.
I have come to an analysis that the customer’s adoption of new technologies is not driven by the technology itself but rather by the need for, and accessibility to, such services. India and other South Asian countries are no exception to this. Although many common areas of interest exist between the South Asian countries, the regional interests and cultural diversity peculiar to India will enable specific modes of technological adoption in terms of work and entertainment services. Ultimately, the service provider will have to choose the technology most applicable to the end-user’s needs.
What is Alcatel’s main thrust area in India? How do you compare its performance with other global equipment manufacturers?
Please note that we are C-DOT Alcatel Research Center and therefore, it is inappropriate if I were to comment on our shareholders’ work.
What are the key concerns that need to be tackled?
From the end-user perspective, it is sometimes observed that network quality has dropped. Also, as experienced frequently the world over, network planning (coverage and capacity) has proved to be a cumbersome exercise. This is even more difficult in the case of India with the rising subscriptions in the past few months. A focus on increasing 2G network capacity is vital, but 3G and BWA deployments will enable operators to overcome the challenge efficiently.
Another issue is spectrum, which is the main bottleneck in offering wireless services. The recent announcement and recommendations by TRAI will certainly enable everyone to tide over these transitional issues.
What are the overall plans of the research centre in India?
CARC was set up one year ago to design and develop ready-to-industrialise broadband wireless products and reference designs that are compliant with Wi-Max Forum standards.
The primary focus will be on Wi-Max Rev-e, adapted to the needs of the rural, urban and suburban Indian environment and subsequently to the world market. The strategy is to propose “end-to-end plug-and-play solutions” including lowcost Wi-Max customer premises equipment suitable for mass market uptake in India. Standardised Wi-Max infrastructure solutions will also be offered. These include broadband radio access networks based on international standards and their evolution, their integration into the core network along with the adoption of enduser devices.
What is the primary focus of the Wi-Max reality centre?
CARC has actively participated in various industry events such as the India International Summit, Wireless Tech India 2006, 14th Convergence India and eGovernance India 2006, addressing the need to bridge the digital divide through wireless technologies.
Wi-Max Rev-e is becoming a reality; hence, we wanted to build a reality centre to demonstrate this technology in the country. This will be the first lab of its kind in India, entirely dedicated to WiMax IEEE 802.16e-2005. I am glad that the setting up of this facility comes at a time when there is a lot of traction in the Indian Wi-Max market, with the regulatory body (TRAI) recently making recommendations to DoT regarding Wi-Max frequency allocation.
This centre will showcase the value of broadband wireless access for rural, urban and suburban Indian regions with applications such as high speed internet, mobile TV and video streaming, as well as voice over IP.
