Mustafa WiMAX Consultation Paper

7/28/2019 Mustafa WiMAX Consultation Paper

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Department of Electronics and Communications Engineering

43 Mohakhali C/A,Dhaka 1212,Bangladesh Tel: +880-2-881138, +880-2-9882308 Fax: +880-2-8812336

Consultation Paperon

Wireless Broadband Access

By

Mustafa M. Hussain( MSc, Telecommunications Engineering, Kings College, London)

Assistant ProfessorEast West UniversityPhone: 01713129549

Email: [email protected]


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Introduction

Bangladesh started its economic liberalization program in 1991. BangladeshTelecommunication Regulatory Commission (BTRC) is an independent Commissionestablished under the Bangladesh Telecommunication Act, 2001 (Act no. 18 of 2001)published by the Parliament in the Bangladesh Gazette, extraordinary issue of April16, 2001. BTRC started functioning from January 31, 2002 with a vision to Facilitateaffordable telecommunication services of acceptable quality for all regardless of their

location.

In 2007, International Long Distance Telecommunication Services (ILDTS) hasformulated to facilitate, liberalize and legitimize ILDTS including VoIP and NextGeneration Network (NGN) Technology. The policy is primarily focused onproviding affordable communication means to the people at home and abroad,encouraging local entrepreneurs, encouraging new technologies to grow and ensuringdue earning of revenues for the government.

The result is that the number of telephone connections (wireline and wireless lines)

has amazing increased in the past ten years. The total number of Mobile PhoneSubscribers has reached 42.04 million at the end ofMay 2008 andThe total numberof PSTN Phone Subscribers has reached 1270.796thousand at the end ofMay 2008.

The effective telecom tariff for domestic voice service has dropped from BDT 7 perminute (US$0.3 at US$1 = BDT 70) to about BDT 2 (US$0.02) per minute in the last5 years.

That may seem like a large figure, but with a population of 15 crore , it translates tojust 25 phones for every 100 people. And that number is skewed by the relative

wealth of the cities while urban teledensity is around 31 percent, just 2 percent of

the rural population has phone lines.

With respect to rural connectivity, the governments objective is to reach millionsrural connections soon. Governments are prioritizing broadband as a key objectivefor all citizens to overcome the broadband gap also known as the digital divide.


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Broadband internet access is one of the catalyst for economic development of acountry in the long run . Ability of Broadband access encourages greater availabilityand usage of information leading to increase in productivity and efficiency.

The explosive growth of the Internet over the last decade has led to an increasingdemand for high-speed, ubiquitous Internet access. Broadband Wireless Access(BWA) is increasingly gaining popularity as an alternative last mile technology inthis domain.

WiMAX technology aims to provide low-cost, high-performance broadband wireless

access to residential and business applications. Standardization was also completedrecently for 802.16e, generally known as Mobile WiMAX, which will provide mobilityto end users in a MAN environment.

Broadband services were launched in Bangladesh in 2003. ADSL services now covermostly urban areas, while broadband wireless subscriber figures are still negligible.

While low broadband penetration is a clear opportunity for BWA/WiMAX, themarket take off will require sufficient spectrum, very low cost CPE and affordableend-to-end connectivity. A country where broadbands average revenue per user(ARPU) is estimated at US$12-15 requires very low equipment cost.


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Comments and OpinionsAboutBTRCs

Wireless Broadband Access(WBA)Draft guideline


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Deregulation

A major driver impacting the broadband wireless explosion is the advent ofglobal telecom deregulation, opening up the telecommunications/Internetaccess industries to a host of new players. As more and more countries enablecarriers and service providers to operate in a variety of frequencies, new andlucrative broadband access markets are springing up everywhere. Wirelesstechnology requires the use of frequencies contained within a given spectrumto transfer voice and data. Governments allocate a specific range of thatspectrum to incumbent and competitive carriers, as well as cellular operators,

ISPs, and other service providers, enabling them to launch a variety ofbroadband initiatives based exclusively on wireless networking solutions.

There are two main types of spectrum allocation: licensed and unlicensed.Licensed frequencies are typically awarded through an auction to those whopresent the soundest business plans to the regulatory authorities overseeing theprocess.Unlicensed frequencies allow multiple service providers to utilize the samesection of the spectrum and compete with each other for customers.Recent examples of the global spread of bandwidth allocations/licenses that are

available to wireless operators as a result of deregulation include: Italy - 26GHzand 28GHz bands; UK - 2.4GHz, 3.5GHz,10.5 GHz and 28GHz bands;France - 2.4GHz, 3.5GHz, and 26GHz bands; Sweden - 3.5GHz band; EC -5.4GHz, to be made available for carriers throughout continental Europe;China - 2.4GHz, 3.5GHz, 5.8 GHz and 26GHz bands; and Brazil - 3.5GHzand 10.5 GHz bands.

Result: millions of new subscribers worldwide are benefiting from broadbandaccess services delivered over wireless networks.

Firstly, where rapid roll-out of a network is the motto, de-licensing is the bestsolution. TRAI agrees not to require licenses for the use of 3.5 GHz to

encourage the use of the spectrum in rural areas by local entrepreneurs - de-

licensed so no charges to be paid. By Terence Graham, A research Associate

of WiMAX Forum, Beijing, China- In the pre-deploying stage of WiMAX in

Malaysia, NasionCom Holdings collaborating with Deutsche Telekom on


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WiMax trial in Klang Valley - according to NasionComs CEO WiMax is anunlicensed spectrum and we need not spend money for the license.

Where France, Malaysia, South Africa, Bahrain Etc Regulatory commission fistdone pretrial with WIMAX technogly and then offer, but why in Bangladesh

BTRC not done pretrial Before given License? If Any reason this policy will

not success in Bangladesh, the operators who will give 25 corer Minimum and

another expenses have to provide, Are they not loser? (Here BTRC Said all

kind of payment are nonrefundable)


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Frequency allocation

By the clause 3.03 and 3.04, total 3 licenses will be issued to provide BWAservice. 2 of them will be in 2.3 GHz and one in 2.5 GHz. Why not 700 MHz

will not be used?

700MHz frequency is now taken by Sheba Phone. Sheba is not using that700MHz band. In a generic point of view 700 MHz would be more operator-

friendly. 700MHz band has favourable propagational characteristics which

enables it to provide longer coverage particularly in rural and remote areas. The

importance of this band has already been recognized in TRAIs

recommendations for Growth of Telecom Services in Rural India.

Performance of different Frquencies

Loss in that frequency will be less prominent and hence more area can becovered by a single BS compared to 2.3 and 2.5 GHz.

It is to check carefully whether 2.3 or 2.5 GHz are currently being used by anysatellite downlink operation in our country. TRAI is not going to use this 2.5-


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2.690 GHz band because it is being used by Department of Space for INSATapplications at some locations.

Spectral considerations The 802.16e standard supports the frequency range of2 to 6 GHz, although other frequency bands can also be accommodated.

WiMAX operates in a mixture of licensed and unlicensed bands. Theunlicensed bands are typically the 2.4 GHz and 5.8 GHz bands. Licensedspectrum provides operators control over the usage of the band, allowing themto build a high-quality network. The unlicensed band, on the other hand, allowsindependents to provide backhaul services for hotspots.

BTRC offered two spectrum band 2.3GHz and 2.5GHz , Issue is where Indiausing 3.5GHz , Malaysia 2.3GHz, Thailand 2.5GHz South Africa 2.6GHz and

Bahrain using 3.5GHz, Question, all countries regulatory Commission's offered

only one spectrum band but why Bangladesh BTRC offered more than one

Spectrum? Is BTRC has further future plan to increase more than 3 operators?


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Threat and Interference Issues

According to the clause no. 9.01, The existing ISP license holders operating in2.3, 3.5, 5.2, 5.4 GHz and 700 MHz will be allowed to continue their wirelessInternet services for 5 (five) years with pre-WiMAX equipments (which theyhave already imported). The 5 years time shall start from the date of issuance offirst BWA licenses.

Now, the question is, after 1 year, if everything goes on according to the draft,when WiMAXwill be in operation in the major cities, wont there be any

interference between the WiMAX 2.3 GHz and ISP 2.3 GHz? If yes, then howto minimize it? Existing 2.3 GHz using by ZIP(ISP) , 3.5 GHz is using by Bracnet , 700Mhz is

used by the Always online might interferences with new WIMAX operator

network for next five years, furthermore Bracnet Who using 3.5 GHz have to

close after 5 years later as per BTRC order but issue is what about after 5years

as they have 3.5 GHz license with.

LawBTRC has not Mentioned any law against WIMAX disturbance but wecan easily find from India, USA, France where their regulatory board providelaw enforcement.


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Foreign currency siphoning and money laundering

According to BTRC Maximum 60% of FDI (Foreign Direct Investment) orforeign Partnership or investment from NRB (Non-Resident Bangladeshi)

with local entrepreneur/consortium/current licensees (excluding licensedcellular mobile operators from the Commission) is permitted.

ILDTS Policy is formulated to Encourage local businesses andenterprises in telecommunication sector.

Telecom is one of the most vibrating sector thats why a lot of foreignfinancing house will be interested to invest here with local entrepreneur .

We suggest maximum 20% of FDI (Foreign Direct Investment) orforeign Partnership or investment from NRB (Non-ResidentBangladeshi) with local entrepreneur/consortium/current licensees


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Infrastructure Sharing

Clause 7.08, Mentioned by BTRC that all the licensed operators have to sharethe same tower and the existing infrastructure but here question is occur when

three operators, they are competitor each other so how can they share same

tower. Suppose one operator Technical find that to link one BTS to another he

has to use 80ft high another operator also required 80ft high to get better signal

so that how it be settle? in this clause BTRC not mentioned clearly.

Not only but also there are some issue occur like power sharing, maintenance,equipment space availability, tower sharing rent etc.

BTRC Should Impose a policy on infrastructure sharing andexpenditure sharing

BTRC Should Impose a policy on Transmission infrastructure sharingand expenditure sharing


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Business Model Analysis

Costing: Strongly can say in this broadband policy expenses are notproportionate with income/revenue, so operators who will get the license may

loser or be lose project. In that case WIMAX Technology Can continuous?

Suppose there is an Example in Dhaka city need to cover 200 BTS approx for

every 500 meter Omni direction Area .

The Vendor like Alcatel, Motorola, offer one BTS expense is near 61 thousandUSD which is very much expensive. But issue is, before this large amount

expense, BTRC should require to survey the WIMAX user or market that can

cover this expenses.

Main city of Bangladesh like Dhaka & Chittagong where there wereunstructured buildings and hills so technical reason like large scale fading orshading is occurred thats why more BTS is required. Equipment capacity ofsignal specifications has 30km radius but practically test is done by privatesector like BRAC net (ISP) who using WIMAX product and using band

3.5GHZ cover only 1km per BTS, So built-in large amount of BTS is required.It is the limitation of WIMAX in Bangladesh.

In the procedure of business operations, there are several critical factors thatdetermine the success of daily business. Such factors include capital, humanresource, produce, market, business model, technology and trade. Among allthe above factors, business model plays a more important role than all others.It is often used to describe the key components of a given business. Businessmodel is concluded and created base on many daily business operations, and itis the representation of business operations facts.

These components depict the major aspects of business model Value Proposition Market Segment Value Chain Structure Revenue Model Partnerships Competitive Strategy


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Designing business model for WBA

The main framework of business model describers the key components of agivenbusiness by inter-relationships influence of different entities from value network.

A viable and feasible business model should always deliver value to customers as wellas to all other participating actors in the value creation system.7 Finally, the created

value will be delivered to customers, and service provider could also obtain a certainprofit from the cooperation with network operator.

Service concept: service concept design aims to present value proposition to thecustomer or end users. The provider intends to deliver a certain value proposition

which customer or end user expects. The other objective of service design is thenature of innovation. This kind of innovation in one way refers to the service whichbuilds on top of existing old version service, which is the evolution and optimizationof old service. Another way is a brand new service with one or more revolutionaryelements.

Technology architecture: Technological architecture describes the fundamentalinfrastructure of technical system, which is needed by the companies to deliver strong


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technical background at service design phase.

Organization arrangement: Organizational arrangement presents the value networkwhich could deliver a certain service by good-relationship cooperation between eachother. The value network may consist of many different actors. These actors havecertain resources and capabilities, and could carry out their own strategies and goalsthrough the organizational arrangement.

Financial arrangement: financial arrangement exhibits the financial arrangementsbetween different market players in the value network. The set of finance

arrangements between different markets actors may includes how profit, investment,cost, risk, and revenue sharing are arranged

SWOT Strategy AnalysisSWOT is one of the most straightforward methods often used to analyze businessstrategy. The decision-makers could recognize organizations environment fromboth internal and external point of view by analyzing the important aspects


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Roll out

According to the roll out obligation-clause no 15.01, The operators, within 1year of issuance of license, shall have to install minimum 5 full fledged Base

Station Transceiver (BTS) radio sites in areas covering each Divisional

Headquarters and 3 BTS covering each District.

Further more actual fact in rural area computer and internet user is rear, sooperators will be afraid to invest in the rural areas.

Deployment schedule should be flexible


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Existing operators (CDMA & GSM) Issues

In BTRC policy there they said that one who have Economically solvent andTechnically sound will get license but in 3.07 cluse(II) mentioned the operators

(CDMA & GSM) having the cellular Mobile license from BTRC will not be

eligible to apply but why?

My Question is where like Bahrain, USA, South Africa give WIMAX licenseboth mobile operator and also others, why BTRC give this limitation towards

mobile Operator? Further more Mobile operator is economically solvent and their infrastructure

was already done whole country. Where coasting of WIMAX is main issue,

there if the mobile operator can get, they may reduce of cost and easily the

customer get their services with low rate & high Qos.


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Data Rate

In the clause 7.02, there is a straightforward mention that At least 128 kbpsper subscriber should be ensured at all time but it is not mentioned that

whether it is the local LANs data rate (Example- Wi-Fi) or it is the

throughoutput of a WiMAX base station. If it is the speed provided by the

local network, then what should be the data rate per BS cell? The minimum

spectrum, which can be assigned for WiMAX usage, is 1.75 MHz enables data

rate from 1 Mbps to 6 Mbps based on different modulation techniques and

coding. So, for a channel of 5-10 MHz bandwidth (by the clause 8.04), speed

should far higher.

There is no differentiation between the data rate of the urban and rural area.But according to TRAI consultation paper on BWA (Consultation Paper no.

9/2006), It is expected that rural area access may require data rate of the order

of 10 Mbps per cell whereas Business centre in big cities may need data rate

beyond the order of 20 Mbps per cell.


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IP telephony service

For the IP telephony service, there is no guideline about integration of existingcellular telephony system and the IP telephony. But it would be beneficial that a

subscriber of WiMAX can phone his cellular subscriber mate.

WIMAX operator can also give mobile or Voice facility if their licensing androll out expense is high they can try collect from Subscriber time to time, But

Existing Mobile Operator gives low price of Voice per/min and GPRS facility.

WIMAX Operator in that case may suffer.

According to the clause 7.11, The licensee(s) is allowed to provide IPTelephony services bundled with the instant license. The licensee(s) shall

optimize their QoS for providing voice along with basic data services. - but

here QoS category isnt well distinguished, even whether the VoIP will be

provided on UGS scheme or ErtPS isnt mentioned. WiMAX support 5 kinds

of QoS and there should be clear guide line about the QoS category.


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Cable TV network

Many rural areas are still out of the reach of cable network. So, it is to beconsidered- whether it is possible or not to provide cable channel broadcasting

to the rural people through WiMAX

Power IssuesPower problem in Rural area, where is National grid there were power is

dropped every hours in pick and non pick time.

BTRC can consider solar power system to resolve rural power issue.Solar power is very well suited for all of Bangladesh because it does not involve

expending so much resources on wires, poles and other equipment. Users needto make only a one-time investment in solar panels that last decades with goodmaintenance. They do not have to pay bills and are not harassed by regularperiods of power shut-off of the type suffered by DESA or REB subscribers.

Solar power has proved to be efficient in all assessments made so far. Goodand almost continuous sunshine is almost guaranteed round the year inBangladesh. Solar energy again is very clean and thus very environmentfriendly.


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Customer Premise Equipment (CPE)

Another important point is the Customer Premise Equipment (CPE). There isno direction in the guideline about the kind or specification of the CPE which

should be used. In the above mentioned pilot project tender, in the clause 4.4,

BTTB mentioned about-

PCMCIA cardStandard compliance: IEEE 802.16eFrequency: 2.5 GHz (for that pilot project)Data speed: Minimum Uplink: 2 Mbps, Minimum Downlink: 5Mbps

Indoor/Desktop CPE Customer Premise EquipmentStandard compliance: IEEE 802.16eFrequency: 2.5 GHz (for that pilot project)Data speed: Minimum Uplink: 2 Mbps, Minimum Downlink: 5MbpsMinimum 1 Ethernet (10/100BaseT) with 1 RJ-11(POTS) port

CPE Customer Premise Equipment

Standard compliance: IEEE 802.16eFrequency: 2.5 GHz (for that pilot project)Data speed: Minimum Uplink: 2 Mbps, Minimum Downlink: 5MbpsMinimum 2 Ethernet(10/100BaseT) with 2 RJ-11(POTS) port

But, more than those type of devices, as it is allowed for the operators toprovide IP telephony services and as voice application will be provided with

separate numbering plan, there should be provisions for WiMAX enabledtelephony handsets, PDAs, Laptops etc.


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Technology Issues

In the guideline it is also not strictly mentioned that which channel accessmethod is to be adopted but this point is vital to affect the overall

throughoutput. Among the channel access method, WiMAX PHY layer

supported three are-

a. Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing (OFDM)b. Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiple Access (OFDMA)c. Scalable OFDMA (S-OFDMA)

For each case the next one is more flexible and robust than the first one.OFDM with 256 sub-carriers the only option supported in Europe by theETSI, whose rival HiperMAN standard is likely to be subsumed into WiMAX;OFDMA, with 2048 sub-carriers. S-OFDMA provides the ability to adjustOFDMA in accordance with the bandwidth of the channel being used.Channel access method should be clear in guideline.

The guideline should mentioned something about the antenna system- whetherto or not to use smart antenna system and if yes, then what kind of smart

antenna system is to use. According to Alvarion Whitepaper on Mobile

WiMAX, The WiMAX Standard supports several smart antenna technologies,including multiple-input, multiple-output (MIMO) and advanced (or adaptive)

antenna system (AAS) on both subscriber terminals and base stations. While

MIMO refers to the use of multiple antennas, and the resulting processing

required for the additional signals; AAS refers to either Space-Time Coding

technique or, Beam-Forming.


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QoS

In this draft, there is no guideline about the coding technique that should beadopted. Though it is relative matter of the operator but there should be a clear

mention about it to ensure a satisfactory QoS to the subscriber. In bidding

document (Tender No. DP/F-5/IR/2007-2008/2) about Supply, Installation,

Testing and Commissioning of a Pilot WiMAX network on turn-key basis

issued by BTTB-newly BTCL, on 31-01-2008 they mentioned that a BS should

have the modulation function as-

a. Uplink- QPSK and 16 QAM modulationsb. Downlink- QPSK, 16 QAM and 64 QAM modulationSo, they may get two different data rate in uplink and downlink direction. It iseven not mentioned in BTRC guideline, whether there will be same of differentdata rate on uplink and downlink direction. Here is a table containing Data rateper cell for various coding technique (in Mbps) collected from TRAIconsultation paper on BWA-


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Summing Up

In my opinion, there should be some changes in the roll out obligation clause.Before granting the license operators should undergo a pilot project. (By

Terence Graham, A research Associate of WiMAX Forum, Beijing, China-In

the pre-deploying stage of WiMAX in Thailand three companies AIS, TOT and

TRUE tested with Intel on spectrum range 3.4-3.6 GHz. on the locations of

Mae Hong Son, Sarabari and Chiang Mai. Participating companies was not

charged for trial spectrums.

It is to be in mind that the success will not be achieved by only installing aeffective network infrastructure. If the cost of the CPEs remain unaffordable

specially for the rural people and the tariffs remain illogical, then WiMAX will

not be able to achieve its motto and it will perish in the consequence.

Mobile WiMAX technology is designed to provide high-quality, mobilebroadband multimedia services; however, it presents challenges that regulators

and operators need to consider before deploying their networks. In particular,at higher frequency bands such as 3.5 GHz, RF signals can experiencepropagation and building penetration losses combined with physicalenvironment considerations which may impact coverage and range reach. Byleveraging advanced technology innovations like MIMO/OFDM, a number ofthese challenges can be addressed to deliver a more spectral efficient, robust,and higher performance mobile WiMAX network.


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About the Author

Mustafa M Hussain,

( MSc, Telecommunications Engineering, Kings College, London)

Assistant Professor in Telecommunication Engineering

East West University

Phone: 01713129549, Email: [email protected]

Mustafa is an Assistant Professor in Telecommunication Engineering atEast West University. He is doing teaching and research intelecommunications for several years. He has published more than 10International Jmynal and conference papers including IEEE.

Mustafa brings his expertise in implementing technology solution and led

multi-vendor teams in designing and implementing technology integrationsolutions for self-service and multi-channel contact by diverse groups ofcustomers (CTI, Telcos, Software, Networking, Internet) resulting inannual savings. He led solution implementation teams creating solutionsfor clients Grameen Phone. Aktel, WorldTel, Fresnel Wireless,UK, NeraNetworks, Norway and Nortel Networks, Canada.

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