VSNL to set up 2000 wi-max stations
Times of India — June 11, 2007

The Tata-group controlled VSNL is setting up 2,000 base stations across the country that will enable wireless internet access.

The company will spend Rs450 crore over the next two years for the project that will see services being rolled out to enterprise customers in five cities this year. The plan, when fully implemented, will cover 120 cities and towns across the country.

For VSNL, which largely derives its income from selling bandwidth, the wi-max (a technology that promises wireless bandwidth speeds of 75mbps) stations will solve the vexed problem of last mile connectivity in difficult-to-access sites in business districts.

Says Srinivas Addepalli, head, corporate strategy, VSNL: "We expect to increase our share of business in providing Internet and data services in the enterprise segment by using wi-max."

VSNL started work on a pilot project a couple of months ago in Bangalore, where it has now launched its first commercial services. In the next three months, the company will launch its services in Mumbai and New Delhi.

To start with, VSNL will offer "fixed wireless" access, an equivalent of the fixed wireless telephone services offered by telecom companies.

It will provide internet access by installing special equipment in the customer premises. As this equipment is bulky, much like a large modem, it cannot be used with portable devices like a laptop. The advantage for VSNL is that it can for the first time bypass state-owned players like BSNL and MTNL which nearly monopolise the last mile connectivity through their national wireline networks.

Though VSNL has no immediate plans to offer connectivity to homes and individual customers, a company executive says that they may be forced to do in the near future. As of now, the industry standards for mobile wi-max are still not in place. To a user, this means manufacturers cannot still make user equipment like laptops and phones. It will take upwards to three years for devices to be available commercially, at an affordable cost, after the standards are fixed.

VSNL is said to be studying the 'Pune Unwired' project closely to bring wireless access to homes and customer. In the project, which was awarded by the Pune Municipal Corporation to Microsense, a combination of long-range wi-max and short range wi-fi is being used to make net access available even in parks. VSNL is toying to use a similar combination in Delhi's corporate exhibition ground Pragati Maidan so that visiting foreign delegates can use internet on the go.

Says an equipment vendor: "The market is headed towards mobile internet. VSNL will have to offer a mobile solution soon if it wants to get anywhere in the wireless internet business."