Why wait for WiMax?

Johannesburg, 31 Jan 2007

The Independent Communications Authority of SA (ICASA) has yet to complete a WiMax evaluation process, forcing some operators to find ways around the regulatory delays.

ICASA expects to finalise the WiMax allocation evaluation process in April. Spokesman Sekgoela Sekgoela says the regulator will announce the date for public hearings after it has analysed December's submissions from stakeholders.

"The applications received far exceeded the available bandwidth," he says, adding this prompted ICASA to publish a Government Gazette notice in November calling for industry comment.

Going it alone

Meanwhile, local operators are looking at WiMax without waiting for ICASA to allocate spectrum. Vodacom's recent purchase of a 10% stake in iBurst was, said CEO Allan Knott-Craig, a strategic move to give it access to the fixed wireless Internet service provider's WiMax licence.

Altech recently signed an agreement with Samsung to deploy a test WiMax network in Midrand. Altech CTO Steve Sidley, while declining to give further details, said the company has "aspirations to play aggressively in the broadband wireless arena".

Knock-on benefits

<B>In comparison</B>

* Mozambique won the race to be the first African country to implement WiMax using equipment certified by the global WiMax Forum.
* Morocco offers broadband that is four times faster and 20% cheaper than Telkom's best solution.
* Morocco's ADSL offerings have no restrictive usage limits typical of local ADSL offerings. The country has also notched up 400 000 ADSL subscribers (double SA's ADSL subscriptions) since service was tested in 2003. Morocco launched commercially in October 2003.
* Egypt offers unlimited broadband Internet with the cheapest package at $16 (about R116).
* Kenya has the fastest growing Internet population in sub-Saharan Africa, Africa Online says. The number of Internet users grew from 500 000 to 1.5 million in a year.

Stakeholders say WiMax is a vital tool to increase broadband and voice penetration. Mike Brierley, CEO of MTN Networks, previously emphasised the importance of equitable access to WiMax for mobile operators so they can remain competitive.

Motorola Middle East and Africa director of wireless broadband Noel Kirkaldy says WiMax is an important business issue. "With WiMax, a broadband roll-out plan that would have cost $100 million and taken four years can be done for $6 million and take only six weeks," he says.

WiMax, in its fixed-wireless application, promises to be the closest substitute to wire-line access, Neotel says.

"Since a WiMax deployment will eliminate the need to roll-out wire-line telecoms infrastructure all the way to the customer's premises, the installation cost, provisioning time, as well as operating cost for the technology is expected to be lower, allowing for better price-points for the customer."

Calls for clarity

Telkom, Neotel and Sentech have WiMax licences and have announced plans to establish networks.

Edwin Thompson, chairman of the Communications Users Authority of SA, says the lack of clarity on WiMax is affecting Internet providers' ability to plan for future services.

He calls on ICASA to provide clarity on the licensing framework, so stakeholders will be able to determine what services they will be able to provide and identify the serious contenders in the WiMax space.