Contents - Connect-World
Contents - Connect-World
Contents - Connect-World
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Broadband Wireless<br />
and standards, the industry is entering<br />
a new stage of development. Over the<br />
next few years, we can expect to see<br />
major progress in the delivery of<br />
broadband wireless services around<br />
the world.<br />
Figure 2: Sky Light Research sees 2005 as a significant year for broadband wireless, with<br />
Southeast Asia representing one of the highest growth markets.<br />
torrential rains of 2003 to provide<br />
communications during the disaster<br />
recovery period;<br />
ˆ Broadband wireless is a highly costeffective<br />
means to provide network<br />
redundancy and backup;<br />
ˆ Organisations are taking advantage<br />
of the bandwidth offered by broadband<br />
wireless for a wide range of<br />
voice, data and video applications that<br />
include distance learning, video-conferencing<br />
and broadcasting;<br />
ˆ Oil and gas exploration, military<br />
operations and other nomadic applications<br />
are using broadband wireless<br />
to provide highly secure, real-time<br />
communications within hours of relocating.<br />
Broadband wireless in Asia<br />
The broadband market is growing at a<br />
healthy pace in the Asia-Pacific<br />
region. Taiwan Wireless, for example,<br />
introduced a project to provide Wi-Fi<br />
service covering the entire area of<br />
Taipei City. Similar initiatives by wireless<br />
Internet service providers in<br />
Malaysia have taken place, but on a<br />
smaller scale. Similarly Unwired Pty<br />
launched a nomadic broadband wireless<br />
service in early 2004.<br />
As for enterprise and government,<br />
many are planning to establish their<br />
own wireless backhaul infrastructure.<br />
This has exerted considerable pressure<br />
on telecom operators who no<br />
longer can rely on regular leased circuits.<br />
Some operators are already<br />
planning to provide better integrated<br />
service packages to enterprise and<br />
government entities.<br />
Breakthroughs in broadband wireless<br />
Technological issues have held back<br />
broadband wireless in the past, but<br />
recent industry advances are now<br />
bringing it to the mainstream market.<br />
Wireless technologies today offer a<br />
number of enhancements that overcome<br />
the past difficulties. One such<br />
issue was the inability to provide clear<br />
and consistent signals in non-line-ofsight<br />
conditions, such as over uneven<br />
terrain or through trees. Channel<br />
interference was another problem. A<br />
lack of standards was another, so<br />
interoperability between systems and<br />
networks was difficult and costly.<br />
These issues have now been resolved<br />
and many more deployments can be<br />
made than were once thought possible.<br />
Also, new low-cost chipsets have<br />
caused a substantial drop in equipment<br />
costs. This has allowed more<br />
widespread distribution of laptops<br />
and handheld devices. The use of the<br />
new generation multimedia handheld<br />
devices is expected to grow rapidly in<br />
2006 to 2007.<br />
Another technological development<br />
that is having significant impact on<br />
the widespread adoption of broadband<br />
wireless is the availability of<br />
equipment that operates in unlicensed<br />
bands. This is allowing organisations<br />
that were unable to attainor afford<br />
licensing fees, to operate in these<br />
bands, without incurring exorbitant<br />
costs.<br />
While North America is well ahead of<br />
the world in license-exempt band<br />
applications, Asia-Pacific countries<br />
are rapidly gaining ground as governments<br />
and regulatory bodies are opening<br />
up access as a means to support<br />
broadband wireless adoption.<br />
Pilot projects in license-exempt bands<br />
have already been deployed or have<br />
been announced in China and India in<br />
recent months for Internet telephone<br />
cafs and hotspot access.<br />
A new era<br />
With the demand for broadband<br />
growing exponentially and the recent<br />
advancements in wireless technology<br />
As deployments grow, so will the<br />
scope of the applications. Since broadband<br />
allows for dramatically shorter<br />
download times for extremely large<br />
files, it is enabling a whole new class of<br />
content distribution, including twoway<br />
video feeds for mobile news delivery<br />
and security surveillance, sharing<br />
of medical images over distances, collaborative<br />
learning and in time, digital<br />
set top boxes for distribution of video<br />
on demand.<br />
Broadband wireless specifically will<br />
play a major role in bringing high-performance<br />
communications capabilities<br />
in areas where broadband was<br />
previously cost-prohibitive or difficult<br />
to deploy.<br />
The lower cost of deployment,<br />
increased mobility, portability, range<br />
and performance promise to make<br />
broadband wireless a significant part<br />
of the broadband landscape. <br />
We’re changing the face<br />
of our website!<br />
www.connect-world.com<br />
We are enhancing<br />
our website to make<br />
it even more user<br />
friendly, informative<br />
and accessible.<br />
What would<br />
you like to see us<br />
add to or change<br />
on <strong>Connect</strong>-<strong>World</strong>’s<br />
website<br />
Please let us know.<br />
Send your comments<br />
via email to:<br />
info@connect-world.com<br />
The decision makers’ forum for ICT driven development<br />
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