YapThomas - The Ultimat3

Rolling out 4G / WiMAX in Malaysia (8)

After one year of waiting, finally we can see the realization of WiMAX coming near the reach of our hands. It has been definitely a long wait. So hence, the eight series of the follow up ever since the WiMAX license has been awarded.

I bought The Edge for this week and I read an interesting article by Michael Lai who is the CEO of Packet One International.

Shall I quote this word of Michael Lai in that article;

WiMAX is set to be the leader for extending broadband to underserved areas and driving the mobile Internet.

and also and ending note by him

The future is closer than you imagine. The question is, are we ready to embrace it?
Albert Einstein once said, “You cannot solve a problem with the same thinking that caused the problem.” Similarly, the telecoms industry needs to rethink and reinvent itself.

Read more:CEO’s Laptop: Broadband Convergence

It is indeed a great article on how the broadband will change the whole TIME (Telco, Internet, Media, Entertainment) industry sector in Malaysia as a whole and how WiMAX can contribute to that change.

On a side note, I would say Packet One has done a great move by really investing in the future. I’ve not heard about others yet. The most I’ve heard also was a recent news about Asiaspace, one of the four companies awarded the license to operate WiMAX here in Malaysia, which is indeed good news. I want to see more players start offering WiMAX and come on, we all want better broadband right?

With Huawei as its technology partner, Asiaspace aims to become a leading WiMAX player in Malaysia within five years.

“We plan to spend about RM500 million over the next three to five years to roll out our wireless broadband service. We hope to become Malaysia’s top WiMAX player by 2012 in terms of revenue and number of subscribers,” Abdul Ghani said.

Huawei has more than 1,500 engineers engaged in WiMAX research and development and has more than 200 engineers dedicated to the Malaysian market.

Asiaspace expects to roll out its service in the third quarter of the year, covering 25% of the population in Peninsular Malaysia by year-end, and increasing this to 30% in 2009 before hitting 40% in 2010.

Asiaspace awards WiMAX contract to Huawei

Malaysian in general need a better coverage of broadband. Streamyx has done great, but what we are talking now is mobility. People are on the move, constantly! They demand for more access to the internet and soon, everyone will be working while walking. (hey, it rhymes!)

It is kinda true, as I would like to see broadband to be everywhere and I would also now laud the move of Sunway and Packet One for doing such a noble thing for the people who are living in Bandar Sunway a better and complete broadband coverage. I personally would really like that kind of internet coverage as I work mobile and I am such a person who are constantly on the net. You know, Facebook, blog, read news, YouTube, and many more..

This was the scoop I picked up by reading The Edge last week:

PETALING JAYA: Packet One Networks (M) Sdn Bhd (P1) is deploying its WiMAX facilities to offer complete broadband coverage of Bandar Sunway, Malaysia’s first “integrated wireless community”.

P1 chief executive Michael Lai said the company would only start the project in Bandar Sunway after it launches its WiMAX services in the next two months.

“WiMAX services would be deployed to cover more areas in Bandar Sunway and it will be done by year-end,” Lai said after signing a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Sunway Group yesterday.

He said P1 was still calculating the cost of setting up the WiMAX services in the 320-hectare township.

Read more: P1’s WiMAX to complete Bandar Sunway’s broadband coverage [UPDATED]

So, we are now for sure going to have WiMAX within our reach this year itself. The thing I’m seriously looking forward to is not much on speed but, the ability of me moving around within the same area getting connected.

This, I shall quote from this website:

The biggest difference isn’t speed; it’s distance. WiMAX outdistances WiFi by miles. WiFi’s range is about 100 feet (30 m). WiMAX will blanket a radius of 30 miles (50 km) with wireless access. The increased range is due to the frequencies used and the power of the transmitter. Of course, at that distance, terrain, weather and large buildings will act to reduce the maximum range in some circumstances, but the potential is there to cover huge tracts of land.

IEEE 802.16 Specifications

* Range - 30-mile (50-km) radius from base station
* Speed - 70 megabits per second
* Line-of-sight not needed between user and base station
* Frequency bands - 2 to 11 GHz and 10 to 66 GHz (licensed and unlicensed bands)
* Defines both the MAC and PHY layers and allows multiple PHY-layer specifications (See How OSI Works)

It is like they are planting a big huge wireless transmitter at the top of KLCC Twin Tower and even people from Klang also can receive a small percentage of its data packet! HOW GREAT! -_-

I’m counting my days till WiMAX arrive…