Nortel “WiMAXes” Its India Mobile Strategy
RAVI CHAUHAN, Managing Director, Nortel India discusses the prospects of mobile broadband technologies, challenges for WiMAX deployment and Nortel's India strategy with PALLAB DUTTA
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Ravi Chauhan is managing director, Nortel India and is responsible for the company's overall business in India. Chauhan was previously vice president, Enterprise Solutions for Nortel India. Under his leadership, Nortel was able to grow the enterprise business and became a market leader in India with a string of high profile successes. His leadership philosophy is focused on "sharing the vision" - with customers, with employees, and with all stakeholders in the organization.
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| Prior to joining Nortel, Chauhan was Director Markets, Asia Pacific where he was responsible for Cabletron's Internet Service Provider, Telecom and Wide Area Networking segments across Asia Pacific, the key markets being Japan, China and Australia . During the course of his distinguished, decade long career in the IT industry, Chauhan has held a number of key positions with industry leaders like Cabletron Systems, Digital Equipment India Limited, Wipro Information Technology Limited and Godrej and Boyce Manufacturing Company. Chauhan received the "Dataquest Award" on behalf of Digital India in 1995 on being adjudged the leader in the workstation market in India. Chauhan completed his Bachelor of Engineering (Electronics and Communication) with Honours from Thapar Institute of Engineering & Technology, Patiala in 1986 and his Post Graduate Diploma in Management from IIM- Ahmedabad. |
54 TIMES GLOBAL JOURNAL - 2006 55 NORTEL “WiMAXes” ITS INDIA MOBILE BROADBAND STRATEGY High-speed data and mobility are two key factors for today's burgeoning wireless industry. What does this mean for WiMAX or 4G telephony?
Ravi Chauhan: The 2G networks delivered fantastic performance to the voice users. Next generation mobile networks however, are required to deliver on-demand pervasive broadband i.e. hyper connectivity. Nortel believes video is going to be the next big wave and it will change the way networks are deployed. 3G networks would get exhausted if barely 6% of subscribers view video. So what is needed is a technology which meets on-demand pervasive broadband requirements. Nortel sees WiMAX as the first 4G Mobile Broadband Access Technology to go commercial transforming the network landscape. WiMAX with the inherent technology advantages of OFDM and Multiple Input Multiple Output (MIMO) with its Echo system has the potential to meet the hyper connectivity challenges. According to one of our customers "4G is all about lighting up devices, like portable game systems, digital still and video cameras, DVD and MP3 players, diagnostic devices and navigation systems and devices you probably don't think about linking wirelessly to the Internet today."
In many markets, fixed line broadband has stimulated widespread demand and raised customer expectations for data services. What will be the challenges that wireless operators and service providers have to contend with while providing mobile data experience similar to that of fixed line broadband?
Ravi Chauhan: Evolving today's installed base of wireless access networks into tomorrow's affordable broadband multimedia mobility platforms will require new ways to use the available and scarce spectrum more efficiently, and will hinge on innovative solutions across all points in the radio network. So you need a technology, which can deliver tens of megabits over the air in the most efficient way, OFDM & MIMO are seen as next generation technologies, which can deliver maximum efficiency over the air. WiMAX/4G technology utilizes OFDM & MIMO as base to bring in most talked about efficiencies.
What will be the performance and cost benefits that will accrue in terms of faster downloads, higher capacity, lower latency etc.?
Ravi Chauhan: With the addition of MIMO antenna technology, WiMAX provides an order of magnitude improvement in performance enabling connectivity for a number of devices for every subscriber while reducing cost - as little as 1/10 the cost-per-bit of 3G technologies. WiMAX delivers about 100Mbps in a 10 MHz channel which is 3 times the speed of any comparable technology available today.
What are the new and exciting applications that will make this technology development a commercial success? How will subscriber applications such as accessing e-mail, web-conferencing, file sharing and downloads, interactive gaming, etc. become a more pleasurable and engaging experience?
Ravi Chauhan: WiMAX/4G will significantly enhance user experience to all the above applications mentioned above; in addition WiMAX brings in VoIP. Also, the next killer application apart from voice is going to be "video".
India is well-placed to leapfrog certain telecom technology developments and offer better and enhanced mobile broadband services to a potentially large customer base. With time-to-market being a key variable, will network operators and carriers be able to meet the requirements of wide-ranging nationwide rollouts in terms of growing needs for greater bandwidth, simpler networks and overall mobility?
Ravi Chauhan: Yes, Nortel delayed 3G rollouts for more than 3 years due to various reasons and it is now time to take a breath and leapfrog to 4G/WiMAX. We are witnessing large global operators deciding to leapfrog to 4G. Also mainstream acceptance of 4G (WiMAX) technology has started to result in commercial deployments and its true Echo system will add to its faster adaptation by many operators.
Are they positioned to overlay 2G cellular networks with WiMAX or ensure seamless mobility among such technologies such as cellular, Wi-Fi and wireline? Will new entrants using WiMAX be able to benefit during their Greenfield installation of broadband networks?
Ravi Chauhan: WiMAX also brings in opportunities for alternate operators like ISP's, Greenfield or cable operators to offer on-demand pervasive broadband. WiMAX provides an order of magnitude improvement in performance enabling connectivity for a number of devices for every subscriber while reducing cost - as little as 1/10 the cost-per-bit of 3G technologies.
How is Nortel responding (global perspective) to the growth of wireless voice and data usage by developing technologies capable of meeting and surpassing the needs of mobile communicators? How is it helping the larger industry ecosystem develop network and handset solutions? What is Nortel's position on standards development and adoption?
Ravi Chauhan: For the past several years, Nortel's Wireless Technology Lab (WTL) has been developing the fundamental technology building blocks that will provide increased spectral efficiency, greater throughput, higher speeds, and lower costs, today and into the future. In fact, Nortel was one of the first vendors to recognize the powerful spectral efficiency and throughput gains that could be realized by combining advanced multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) antenna technology for data transmission with a signaling technique called orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM). Since it began work on OFDM-MIMO six years ago, Nortel has invested nearly 100 person-years in researching, prototyping, and trialing OFDM-MIMO technology and has led the industry. To date, the company has made significant technical contributions to the key standards bodies, including the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) and the Third Generation Partnership Project (3GPP), as well as tallied up an impressive list of industry firsts.
Could you give a few insights into Nortel's strategy for the Indian telecom market and its viewpoints on the expected high-growth phase of the Indian telecom market with respect to wireless and broadband segments, growth in tele-density, mobile penetration?
Ravi Chauhan: We are presently riding the success of the mobile voice market thanks to industry friendly regulations, tariff structures & affordability of mobile phones. Going forward, we will witness a similar need and growth in the broadband market. WiMAX promises Internet everywhere and at affordable costs primarily due to its inherent technology advantages viz. OFDM & MIMO and echo system. As a leader in OFDM, MIMO & VoIP, we see clear possibilities for us to explore in the Indian market. Currently, there is a lot of interest and industry wide trials happening and Nortel is conducting WiMAX trials in India. India offers large market potential and is extremely significant for the success of WiMAX. Nortel is expected to take the lead in driving the technology and WiMAX profiles suitable for the India market.
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