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This section contains analysis of some imortant news on WiMAX.

Second Generation Mobile Tv products at NAB 2008

The NAB 2008 is the last industry forum before the Digitalization in Feb 2009. Undoubtedly most broadcasters are weighed down by the rigors of putting everything in place before that. The bug also seems to worrying other operators who are already digital (such as Echostar) who need to migrate the analog receivers used for turnaround to digital.

However terrestrial digitalization alone it does not stop the march of other technologies and the developments on the IPTV front are the most exciting. With more standardization in the industry under ATIS, better fiber optic and hybrid systems, the IPTV has been the fastest growing mode of delivery over the last year. It is no surprise therefore that IPTV has been selected as the major theme area in NAB2008.

Mobile TV industry has always been exciting for the broadcasters, if for nothing else than the sheer numbers of handsets and the growth they are exhibiting. With Some of the countries in Asia ( China and India growing at 8 million users a month), mobile TV opportunities are now addressing a target market of over 2 billion handsets of which over 300 million are smartphones which can receive mobile TV in one form or the other.

Hundreds of first generation Mobile TV products will be on display such as H.264 encoders, IPEs, Modulators and transmitters as well as encryption and DRM systems for protection of content.

The NAB 2008 now comes with Mobile TV second generation products such as video transcoders and transcasters ( From Enensys™). The transcoders ( a single 1RU Unit!) can take a DVB-S signal in standard definition and transcode it in DVB-H for transmission to Mobiles in QVGA or QCIF formats. Enensys has also unveiled its MFN to SFN adopters for large repeater sets not possible in standard ATSC transmissions or MFN based implementations lacking synchronization using standard timing references.

The year 2007 has seen the maturing and wide availability of HSDPA and EV-DO systems. Mobile Tv services can be provided using a much greater quality using these high speed radio systems and we expect to see a strong pitch to use these networks for delivery of mobile content,

After the NAB 2007 where interesting possibilities of ATSC standard being modified for carrying mobile TV were discussed, the players have been working backstage for bringing out the most viable products to be demonstrated at the NAB 2008 and we should get a good insight in the future of this technology for the Mobile TV market in the United States. With in-band mobile TV capabilities in ATSC systems, the technologies are certainly promising. By 2009, we should have local stations using ATSC transmissions also transmitting the Mobile TV signal on the same carrier. LG had demonstrated MPH products at the Mobile World Congress 2008 and it is also likely to feature in the NAB 2008. The MPH broadcast technology is now available from Harris. We expect the delivery of Mobile TV along with SDTV on the same ATSC carrier a reality by next year.

In the meantime, Mobile TV from Verizon (based on MediaFLO) has gone on stream and a service from AT&T (also based on FLO technology) has been announced to be launched in May 2008. NAB 2008 should provide a good preview of the new service.

In terms of content production for Mobiles also, the second generation of products are making a debut at the NAB 2008. One such product is the Mobile Portal and associated production tools which are being introduced by CloseVU™. The Mobile Portal is designed for mobile devices which access the portal using an internet or streaming access. The CloseVU™ product is based on Adobe Flash Player and Flash Lite 3 for Mobile. CloseVU provide a range of interactive elements suitable for mobile screens to be incorporated in the portal. CloseVU also has a range of “made-for-mobile” production tools.

A number of new handsets are expected to be showcased including many of those exhibited recently at the World Mobile Congress. This includes the LG DVB-H ( OMA-BCAST) phone KB620 and phones for FLO services.

The Mobile TV and Video Forum ( Conference ) is on Tuesday April 15 and will turn the spotlight on various facets of mobile TV including mobile advertising, multiple standards, re-purposing of content and in general the Mobile TV ecosystem. The NAB show will also witness the newly formed Open Mobile Video Coalition (OMVC) host a session focused on mobile television opportunities for local TV broadcasters. It is expected to garner support for the new ATSC based mobile TV standards, which have so far not found much favor with other mobile alliances.

With the theatrics normally associated with the launches, all in all it promises to be a very interesting show.

Broadcast Mobile TV is not a blind alley for operators!

Though the over enthusiasm of some of the technology vendors nearly did it in, but the broadcast Mobile TV is far from dead. In fact it is set to be one of the most promising technologies driven by a number of factors.

First of all to dwell on the initial hiccups in the rollout of Mobile TV. The industry was widely split open by a number of standards ranging from DVB-H, DMB, MediaFLO and ISDB-T. As if this was not enough, the variations within standards were astounding ( Such as DVB-H CBMS and OMA-BCAST), so it was difficult for operators to get the ecosystem right. Countries such as China went on their own with StiMi and CMMB standards.The handset vendors now needed to develop network and operator specific handsets. The 3G technology, which was the common one on which mobile TV could be streamed fell way below the promised bit rates needed.

If it was any other industry, true, the operators would have shut shop. But Mobile industry is one where nearly 3 billion handsets are in existence and where 15 million users are being added per month in China and India alone. Multimedia revenues which are at relatively low levels today have a long way to rise.

Technologies such as MediaFLO in the US (Verizon and Shortly AT&T) and DVB-H in Europe and Asia have taken hold. At leat four satellites which will enable DVB-SH or STiMi are being launched. The ATSC technology is getting enhanced with in band capability of ATSC-MPH. Companies such as Sprint have ensured that their offerings ( Such as Sprint TV) shine with EV-Do handsets ( such as Samsung Instinct).

Second generation products in mobile TV industry have started appearing such as transcoders which can repurpose satellite or DTH content for mobiles, WiMAX for extension of IPTV wireless including multicast and devices for converting networks to SFN ( such as from Enensys). New handsets for mobile TV go much beyond the first generation handsets.

Mobile TV is something which is personal and important for users to keep in touch while on the move. It is not a trivial service. It may be that it may not follow the pattern of Linear TV, but its future is very bright.

Gartner predicts 6.9 Million WiMAX Users in India by 2011

March 26, 2008

A report from the Gartner group says that the number of WiMAX ( both fixed and mobile) could be pegged at 6.9 million by 2011. This report must be considered a very cautious and conservative one, in a country which today adds over 8 million mobile users in a month. If one pulls out reports on cellular industry made in 2004, one would be left aghast. The trajectory of WiMAX, if at all one would like to trace in advance, must follow that of WiFi which unveiled a new wireless world when the WiFi alliance began standardizing the profiles and parameters to be used in commercial devices such as WiFi cards based on 802.11b/g. India will top 700 million WiFi devices by 2009 in the same scenario described as “ lack of adequate laptops” Worldwide over 2 billion WiFi devices will be in operation by this time.

Technologies which have disruptive potential such as WiMAX have no real basis to predict future numbers and one can at best list the strengths and the factors which going ahead can impact the numbers significantly. What are these factors?

First of all let us recognize that WiMAX is not just an extension of range of Wireless systems. It is based on an entirely new architecture based on native use of IPv6 and features which guarantees QoS even on a wireless medium by a scheduling mechanism. It has features which allow multiple base stations to simultaneously service a mobile device ( macrodiversity) and supports multicast and broadcast services. Hence WiMAX is more of an open wireless extension of the global Internet rather than just data connections delivered over mobile medium. This extension is without “ walled gardens as is the case for many mobile networks which today provide internet connectivity.

Secondly, while mobile WiMAX is widely perceived as a high speed connectivity medium, it is designed to provide connectivity to devices even with very low data rates by virtue of assignment of subcarriers. It can be used for permanently connected devices such as music players, PDAs, Location based services and UMPCs or other mobile personal devices.

The WiMAX forum is doing today, what was done by the WiFi alliance 5 years back. It has standardized profiles and parameters for commercial deployment of WiMAX systems, initiated process of certification of profiles and devices which have WiMAX forum approval are becoming widely available.

The growth in India will indeed be dependent on many factors including spectrum allocations as rightly pointed out but these are bound to happen in a year. We also should not forget that individual companies such as Tata communications have committed $500 million to WiMAX and there are a dozen others which will cumulatively invest over $2 billion in next three years.

Mobile WiMAX falls short of expectations?

It has been reported that “Dispute erupts over bad WiMax performance” based on the report by an Australian WiMAX operator. The report cites of loss of service with direct connectivity beyond 2 Km and inbuilding coverage of only a few hundred meters from the base station.

WiMAX technology has proved itself in more than 300 trials and a number of commercial launches. Some of the recent ones are the QMAX harbour area WiMAX in Singapore, Wateen telecom in Pakistan, Tata Indicom in India and a number of operators in Latin America.

Take heart! Tata Communications in India is investing $500 million in WiMAX ( see http://www.wimax-home.com ) and they are just one of the dozen comanies which will invest over $ 2 Billion in India alone. XOHM and others of course are the real players,though not fully in the court yet.

A network can not defy the laws of physics and the link performances need to be built in. First of all, the higher frequency ranges used in Australia ( nearing the extended c-band at 3.6 GHz are no help as the loss increases with square of frequency as well as distance. Secondly WiMAX base stations come in different versions such as carrier grade, Micro base stations and Pico base stations. These are with different power levels and can not deliver more than their scheduled range.

Hence it all boils down to sectorization and base station densities.

http://www.wimax-home.com

Fortune names WiMAX as one of the top ten wireless trends for 2008

Ten reasons why this should be so!

Fortune has named WiMAX as the top ten wireless trend for 2008.The naming of WiMAX as the top wireless trend for 2008 has not come as a surprise to industry watchers. A number of developments, happening in their own areas are now coming together to deliver the promise of a completely new mobile wireless experience, the first in over a decade. There are no less than ten reasons, which we foresee today, which are likely to make this prediction ring true.
Firstly, the price of CPEs based on bill of material costs has for the first time forecast to be below $100 (e.g. by Wavesat®). This is even without any of the large scale introductions of WiMAX networks, and even with relatively low CPE volumes in existence today. With volume the prices are set to nosedive even further.
Second, the year 2008 is slated to be one, where large scale introductions of WiMAX networks will happen. The launch of XOHM by Sprint Nextel and WiMAX from Clearwire® will propel the availability of WiMAX to over 100 million of customers before the year is out. This follows over 200 trials and successful introductions in a number of countries.
Third, WiMAX technologies have now matured with the WIMAX forum certifying Wave 2 compatible mobile WiMAX devices. Chipsets are available e.g. from Beceem or Runcom amongst many others which provide immediate implementation of a variety of customer premises equipment(CPEs).

Fourth, the governments worldwide have now much higher awareness of the power of mobility as well WiMAX as an enabler of rural and urban connectivities and its potential in delivering high speed applications. With many of the countries adding 8-10 million users a month for mobile services, universal connectivity is squarely in focus. This is implying a better focus on regulatory issues to spur WiMAX networks.

Fifthly there is a greater availability of CPEs ranging from PC cards, USB modems, standalone gaming devices and internet tablets. Hence operators who do not possess wireline assets are now willing to take a plunge with the new technologies.

Sixth, there is now much better clarity on the use of spectrum for WIMAX and mobile WiMAX. With the WRC 2007 adopting the OFDMA-TDD as one of the approved air interfaces under IMT-2000 as well as clearly defining the WiMAX spectrum bands, many of the pending allocations can be quickly resolved.

Seventh, the success of programs such as M-Taiwan and Eratech® Argentina amongst many others have demonstrated that e-governance and universal connectivity are key drivers of global competitiveness. Regulators globally are seeking expeditious implementations of WiMAX networks, both through spectrum auctions as well as licensing etc.

Eighth, most of the legacy wireline and wireless networks based on TDM circuit switched architecture are nearing end of life and the new generation networks( NGNs) are invariably being implemented based on IP. WiMAX is one of the key wireless technologies which are based on completely open architectures, use of IETF protocols and use of IPv6. The use of WiMAX is seen not only as a migration to open IP core networks with support for mobility but also migration to IPv6 which is inevitable with growing base of mobile devices and mandates for such migration in many countries.

Ninth, the WiMAX technology, unlike its predecessor the WiFi, provides a number of quality of service classes, which can be defined for each connection and each application running over these connections. Thus it can support VoIP for rural telephony as easily as streaming video with their own QoS classes. It is now being seen as a key technology to enable true broadband capable of supporting a rich multimedia messaging and calling environments. Whether it is pictures with an 8Mp camera or an 80GB iPOD®, WiMAX can keep these wireless. Many applications are now ready to step out of the limited connectivity and the row resolutions enabled by today’s mobile networks.

Tenth and finally, all this would be in vain, were it not for some “big-bang” introductions of the technology, which immediately provide a critical mass for prices to come down sufficiently for even more users to subscribe to the service, thus creating a chain reaction.
With the impending launches in a number of countries, as well as launch of Sprint Nextel XOHM and Clearwire® services in USA, the stage is now fully set for just such a phenomenon.

Just as WiFi changed the landscape in the use of computers and mobile devices in just a couple of years, get set to witness the same for WiMAX this year. The drama is expected to unfold with veterans on the stage with the likes of Intel, Samsung, Motorola and Sprint being a part of the star cast and many years of rehearsing behind them. The drama will be played out on the world theatre, with virtually every country donning its colors and logo.

Feel restricted in a cell phone environment? WIMAX is the answer.

Many users, even those of advanced smart phones generally feel very restricted in using both office applications as well as multimedia. The screens are too tiny and the operating systems allow only limited leeway on the way the files can be used or external services accessed.
Many of the phones are simply either multimedia or TV. Others are just devoted to “ office applications” , Push mail being at the top, with document viewers and onerous to use applications tagged along.WiMAX changes all this by making high quality multimedia, TV available on standard devices such as UMPCs or just media players.

It appears to be a solution, which could release a long pent up demand. As Intel’s Sean Malony had said” There are so many applications, pent up, just waiting to go mobile”.

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