Motorola in talks to offer WiMax

Global communications giant Motorola is currently engaged in talks with all major telecom service providers (including the state owned units) in the country to offer its WiMAX platform.

WiMAX (short for Worldwide Interoperability of Microwave Access) is a standards-based wireless technology that provides high-throughput broadband connections over long distances, with typical cell sizes of two to ten km.

"We are conducting trail runs with the six major telecom operators in India, both CDMA and GSM, to offer 'Canopy' broadband services. We expect service providers to extend this WiMAX to customers by October," Dennis Stipati, director, international sales, Motorola's canopy, wireless broadband products, told Business Standard. Indian telecom operators are currently undertaking test runs of Canopy's WiMAX product.

Motorola has placed India amongst the four 'top target markets' along with the United States, China and Western Europe for setting up wireless broadband infrastructure for telecom operators.

The US based company is already a dominant player in providing telecom infrastructure, and all major carriers (GSM and CDMA) are Motorola India's customers.

According to Stipati, the Canopy broadband services is focussed on the unlicensed 2.4 and 5 Ghz spectrum. The focus is on unlicensed as spectrum is free, clear and available (over 200 Mhz of available spectrum).

Motorola's system can perform in high and low-density environments in the presence of external interference. Also, the sixty degree antennae beam delivers up to six plus Mbps of effective throughput with connectivity to a maximum of 200 subscribers per access point (AP), and it enables the delivery of broadband access to multiple locations from a single AP, Stipati said, adding that return of investment was possible in six to twelve months.

The company was offering the infrastructure to Indian operators at $8,000 per base tower and $250 per subscriber module, said Avinash Bector, regional channel manager, Asia Pacific Region, Motorola - canopy.