 | Issue: | Asia-Pacific III 2012 |
| Article no.: | 12 | |
| Topic: | Seizing Revenue Opportunities with Fixed Wireless | |
| Author: | Roy Wittert | |
| Title: | VP of Sales and Marketing for APAC | |
| Organisation: | Cambium Networks | |
| PDF size: | 235KB |
About author
Roy Wittert is Vice President of Sales and Marketing for APAC in Cambium Networks, Melbourne Australia. Roy has 20+ years’ experience in the IT and Communications industry including distribution, channel development and management, carrier sales, managed services and video conferencing.
Roy’s previous vendor experience encompasses SynOptics, Wellfleet, Bay Networks in South Africa and Nortel and Motorola Solutions in Australia, before joining Cambium Networks in Oct 2011. After immigrating to Australia in 1998, he worked for Nortel Network for five years and then in Sales Management roles with 3D Networks, Volante and Vantage Systems, a video conferencing service provider. Roy spent the past two years at Motorola Solutions as the ANZ sales lead for Wireless Network Solutions, developing the reseller, distributor and wireless service provider channels.
He holds a degree in Electrical Engineering and a Post Graduate Diploma in Industrial Engineering from the University of the Witwatersrand, in Johannesburg South Africa. Roy also completed a Certificate in Marketing and Industrial Marketing and an Executive Development Program from the same University.
Article abstract
Asian IPTV is advancing faster than the rest of the world, raising demand for broadband coverage. While LTE starting to roll, cheaper Wi-Fi is already in use for offloading congested mobile traffic, for enterprise premises and for hotspots fixed access. Fixed Wireless Access (FWA), with its point-to-point and point-to-multipoint capability is a complementary technology that typically relies on outdoor equipment, increasing reliability and reducing signal loss. Unlike Wi-Fi, FWA can provide coverage across large service areas. It can be installed with speed and ease with FWA points ‘perched’ on existing mobile towers. This is particularly useful for extending reach without having to lay cables, enhancing under-served areas but can also to expand wireless capacity for enterprises in congested areas and for backhaul of mobile traffic.
Full Article
With the introduction of intelligent mobile technology, such as Smartphones and tablet-based devices, demand for high-speed and ‘always-on’ Internet access has never been greater, both in the business world and consumer sector. Furthermore, judging from reports that show that global broadband access looks set to increase from US$274 billion in 2010 to US$416 billion in 2012 (which is an increase of 52 per cent in revenue terms) – global broadband adoption is shifting to the fixed wireless domain.
The true potential of wireless broadband is being recognised throughout the telecoms market, particularly as fixed wireless deployments begin to gain significant momentum. With vast new opportunities awaiting mobile broadband providers, the next few years will be critical as interest in fixed wireless broadband continues to grow to meet the escalating demand. Those players that make the right strategic moves today will be well positioned to become future market leaders.
Meeting the bandwidth demand
The growth in mobile devices has driven the use of mobile broadband and applications, such as Facebook and Skype, with the majority of Internet users using mobile technologies to access online content and information . As mobile devices and demand to access online content from mobile proliferate, so does the need for increased bandwidth. With mobile devices permeating consumers’ lives and the workplace, the need for increased capacity and speeds has subsequently never been greater. Moreover, the fact that IPTV, which is the most demanding application for high-speed broadband, now has 65.5 million subscribers and is expected to catapult over the next five years, places further demand for increased bandwidth. Interestingly, it’s also been reported by broadband analyst firm Point Topic that the Asian market is advancing the fastest, with China alone adding over three times as many IPTV subscribers in the first quarter of 2012 than any other country. This is likely to increase even further with countries such as France and the US also reporting strong numbers and accelerated growth in the same report period.
What’s out there?
Currently, mobile broadband and the promise of LTE is a hot topic in the wireless industry, particularly as there seems to be strong agreement that LTE is a ‘must’ in order to deliver high-speed data and meet the increasing demand on bandwidth capacity. U.S. LTE Android Smartphone customers use more data on over-the-top (OTT) applications, such as Netflix and Hulu, than their non-LTE peers, according to a new research report, giving credence to the notion that subscribers with a faster connection and lower latency will consume more data.
The study, conducted by Informa Telecoms and Media and Mobidia, a mobile data solutions vendor, found that most customers using the applications – Dropbox, Hulu, Netflix and YouTube – did so using Wi-Fi connections. However, the overall data consumption from these apps was consistently higher among LTE subscribers than non-LTE customers.
Mobile broadband is a major revenue source for mobile (wireless) service providers and we will continue to see the demand for these service growth from year to year. Looking at the market as a whole, we are also seeing the popularity rising for fixed broadband services over xDSL and fibre and Wi-Fi hotspots. Wi-Fi, which initially provided mobility inside homes and offices, and in many instances is still viewed as the standard home operating environment, is now also being widely deployed as Wi-Fi hotspots, to provide broadband access in parks, restaurants, public places and as an offload for oversubscribed 3G networks.
Despite all the recent attention given to LTE and Wi-Fi Offload, mobile broadband providers should strongly consider the option of deploying Fixed Wireless Access (FWA) systems for a number of reasons. Mobile providers are often deploying infrastructures in areas that lack fibre optic cable, xDSL, or cable television lines. Mobile service providers can now utilise the same transmission towers that are used for both 2/3G and emerging 4G LTE services. Fixed Wireless does not typically need the same density of towers as the mobile networks as the service typically relies on outdoor CPE, increasing reliability while reducing the possibility of signal loss. The advantages of fixed wireless include the ability to connect with users in remote areas without the need for laying new cables and the capacity for broad bandwidth that is not impeded by fibre or cable capacities. FWA is also less complex and cheaper than LTE, where LTE would be considered as a fixed wireless solution.
Wireless service providers have already been providing mostly residential, and some enterprise Internet services across the world via fixed wireless solutions, of which Canopy, developed by Motorola and now part of the Cambium Networks portfolio, was a major contributor. The technology for wireless broadband access networks supports high-speed Internet access, video surveillance, SCADA (Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition), streaming video and VoIP applications. These carrier grade last mile solutions provide wireless access connectivity to build fibre, cable and DSL network extensions to reach underserved areas, or expand business and corporate networks.
In addition to offering both residential, enterprise and government fixed services in remote areas, providers can also offer enhanced enterprise services in metro areas to complement their mobile offerings. They can also deploy wireless hotspots for consumer business and use the fixed wireless infrastructure for backhaul.
With fierce competition in the global marketplace and the insatiable appetite for next-generation services, there is added pressure on mobile broadband providers to act now rather than later. Otherwise they run the risk of being left behind and will undoubtedly have to fight for customers.
Seizing the opportunity
The challenge for the industry has been to develop solutions that are spectrally efficient and provide high bandwidth, while being cost-effective and easy to implement. In order to succeed, keep competition at bay and feed bandwidth-hungry mobile devices, mobile broadband providers need to take a collaborative approach going forward – they need to utilise both mobile broadband (LTE) and fixed wireless solutions. FWA should be used as a complementary solution to xDSL, fibre or cable. Since fibre is expensive to deploy, and xDSL and cable cannot reach all businesses and homes, FWA is a cost-effective solution that has the capability to meet bandwidth demands. The FWA solutions offer the same high performance and spectral efficiency offer by LTE. New revenue opportunities will arise by combining these services, which providers can maximize. For instance, they can charge a premium but use the same (and existing) mobile broadband infrastructures to deliver FWA systems.
Deploying FWA points on the same mobile broadband towers utilises them for a less expensive spectrum (or maybe even free `class licensed’ range) and provides an entirely new opportunity for the mobile broadband provider to generate revenue for fixed access services, supporting voice, video and data-rich media. With the right solutions, FWA can provide coverage across large service areas and long distances which can be installed with speed and ease. The Point-to-Point (PTP) and Point-to-Multipoint (PMP) networks will provide reliable, rapidly deployable, cost-effective wireless distribution and access to information. The PMP networks offer a broad range of wireless connectivity solutions that help enhance productivity, improve security and reduce operating costs. This also enables providers to consider bundling such services with their mobile broadband service offerings.
The Philippines’ leading wireless service provider, Smart Communications, Inc. (Smart), has been deploying various solutions throughout the region for the past seven years. This service provider, who has 49 million subscribers on its GSM network, wanted to create new revenue opportunities by rapidly expanding their network to offer data connectivity to locations where such services did not yet exist. With wireless PMP solutions, Smart successfully achieved the world’s largest unlicensed wireless broadband deployment, which involved connecting 25 cities in less than a year. With ‘zero footprint’ installation, rapid deployment and low TCO (Total Cost of Ownership), Smart quickly broke open new revenue streams and increased its scalability for the future.
Similarly, Digicel in Papa New Guinea is complimenting its mobile services with an expanding FWA service offering, providing high performance Internet and VPN services to enterprises and government entities in central and remote areas alike.
Final thoughts
To meet market demand for next-generation services, more mobile broadband providers need to realise that it is possible to improve customer loyalty and grow their customer base while deploying profitable fixed wireless solutions. By using FWA systems as a complementary solution, providers will reap the financial rewards by taking advantage of the untapped revenue opportunities that arise. In addition, the fact that FWA systems are scalable and can be deployed quickly with incremental capital investment, offers further ROI benefits.
The continued escalation of global broadband adoption and the need for increased speed and capacity opens up the possibility for fixed wireless to become the dominant technology in the industry. Those service providers who lead the way in the market today and act now, will be at the forefront of the industry tomorrow.
