A couple of days ago, I attended a WiMax forum hosted by Intel Philippines. They are helping push the use of WiMax in emerging markets where there are very low but fast growing PC users. Why?
Well, let’s just say that internet connectivity is a single biggest motivation why many households purchase a PC (and Intel is hoping it come with one of their CPUs). As one Intel executive puts it — “there’s no such thing as demand for WiMax, just demand for broadband connectivity”.
So the next question is, why WiMax? What’s the big deal, really? Here are some tidbits I’d like to share from what I gathered during the forum:
- There are abour 460 WiMax deployments in 135 countries worldwide for fixed, portable and mobile networks.
- Local commercial WiMax have been conducted jointly by Intel and telcos as early as 2005.
- Broadband subscription in the Philippines is still low at only 1.3 million or 7% of households. Aside from 3G, 4G WiMax may help reach places not normally lined up with fixed cable/DSL lines.
- In the Philippines, commercial WiMax is allocated at the 2.3GHz and the 2.5GHz band with 15-30MHz spectrum size. Deployment has been made at the 2nd half of 2008 and follows the 802.16e standard and peaks at 60+Mbps.
As for the commercial WiMax deployments in the country, here are some basic questions and my own answers to them:
- Q. Why is Globe WiMax only deployed in Southern Luzon and not Metro Manila?
A. Providers like Globe Telecom, which already has existing fixed lines in Metro Manila, will logically want to expand their network so it’s only logical their WiMax network will be offered to places where they don’t have lines (DSL) yet. You don’t want to eat your own market share with redundant services.
 - Q. How about the WiMax by Happy Communications?
A.Happy Communications has WiMax since 2008 serving Metro Manila because they don’t have existing fixed line so wireless is a much cheaper and faster approach to built a new network, especially if you are a new player. They only service enterprise and business though (not sure about the price of Php25k/month for 2Mbps) and are still planning on residential offerings.
 - Q.Why Globe WiMax only offers 512Kbps?
A. It’s a start. They will offer higher bandwidths in the future (Smart Bro also started out at 384Kbs and is now at 2Mbps). Besides, they may not have enough capacity shoudl there be a deluge of new customers in those locations. besides, the introductory price of Php799 is already a good deal.
 - Q. What type of usage model is Globe offering?
A. There are 3 types of usage models and Globe is offering the Fixed Access model. That means subscribers will be given a tranceiver that will be installed in their homes. That rules out direct connection for WiMax-ready mobile phones and laptops (Nomadic or Full Mobility usage models).
 - Q. Is WiMax better than fixed DSL?
A. In theory no — fixed lines are still more reliable and have better latency.
 - Q. Is WiMax better than 3G?
A. They didn’t call WiMax as 4G for nothing — think of WiMax as your regular WiFi connection extended to a couple of nkilometers wide. Basically, with 4G, you get better bandwidths than 3G can offer. Globe WiMax is under the IEEE 802.16e standard and has a maximum capacity of 60Mbps.
 - Q.Is Smart going to offer WiMax too?
A.I think they also announced they are planning to roll-out a Smart WiMax of some sorts but there’s no concrete details yet.
Incredible! This blog looks exactly like my old one! It’s on a totally different subject but it has pretty much the same layout and design. Superb choice of colors!
Are there any IT/Telco companies here in the Philippines who are offering wimax infra installations specifically for unified city-wide telecommunications ?
This is very up-to-date information. I think I’ll share it on Delicious.
Is that really true?
I’ve had Smartbro (fixed antenna) for a couple years and it’s been rock steady for me. Then again, I have a Smart Tower just a couple hundred feet from where I live so they were an obvious choice. It’s been a very steady & reliable connection, but just isn’t fast enough for large bandwidth connections. So I had a Globe 1mbt dsl line hooked up a couple days ago. I hooked up both the Smart & Globe connections to a cheap’ish load balancing router and so far I’m quite satisfied with it.
I’d looked at bumping up my Smartbro to the new 3.5g usb modems.. but saw too many horror stories about IM client disconnects, aborted file transfers, and widly fluctuating connection speeds. I can’t see the point of a 2mbt connection if it only applies for the 1st minute of anything but http surfing. Also my local Smart Tower isn’t even 3.5G capable yet, argh.
I wonder how much of a lockdown the Phil ISP’s will be putting on Wimax connections… i.e. will they implement heavy throttling on ftp/video conferencing/voip? Will residental Wimax be an “open” connection or just another NAT’d/proxied smokescreen? i.e. We’ll give you a 512kbt/whatever connection but you can only use it for plain http.
i use globe dsl, speed was very unstable and connection sometimes intermittent compared to pldt’s NGN (i use both, one in laguna and one in cavite)so what more do you expect from globe’s wireless connection?
It used to be that PLDT DSL is about Php1,500 for 128Kbps.
@aldrin
I concur, P799 is quite expensive for 512kbps speed, which is not even guaranteed by Globe!
If you ask me, P350-499 for 512kbps is more reasonable.
agree. guided transmissions are more reliable than free space ones.
We use Wimax in my call center and it works great!
Its cheaper then a dedicated ISP and works just as well.
WiMax Technology was discussed in our class as a thesis proposal for one of our subject. It is said that WiMax has a larger coverage area than WiFi, so without further thinking I would say that this technology is much better that WiFi. But Whatever happen I will still use DSL, as you said “fixed lines are still more reliable and have better latency.”
Thanks for the post.
Just as long as the bandwidth doesn’t dilute to an uber-detestable degree — say 10 kBps — I’m in. That’s the problem with most wireless networks.
I’m interested to see how this all works out in the long run. We Pinoys love to be at the forefront of technology, even if it means running the risk of burning holes in our pockets. P799 per month for 512kBps is a bit on the pricey side.
will wait for it :)