INTRODUCTION

Background to the Research

To begin with what is Broadband Wireless Access (BWA)?

It is, simply put, providing Broadband (ie. high data rate) connectivity for Internet/data (as being

different from Voice) without the use of wires, ie. through the wireless medium, ie. free air, ie.

with the help of Radio transmission and reception.

Why is it important?

GDP of a nation, some would be surprised to know, is affected by the extent of Broadband

deployment of a nation. When one accesses the internet at a high data rate, one commands the

power of information availability and fast virtual transactions. This gives a tremendous boost to

the economy, spanning all sectors. This encourages Telcos to further augment their infrastructure

which leads to a cyclical impetus to development in the nation, resulting in increased GDP (Trai

2010).

As TRAI has acknowledged, and the world knows, the Broadband numbers in India are nothing

to write home about. This could be attributed to the continued dependence of our Telcos on

conventional wire-line media (twisted pair and co-axial cables). The deployment of fiber for

Broadband access is lagging other nations and is adversely affected by various factors. Thus, one

obvious solution that should come to mind is that of Broadband Wireless Access. There are

many reasons that are in its favour – ease of deployment, existing passive infrastructure to some

extent, subsequent reduced effort in its operation and maintenance, all this is especially

applicable to the ultimate aim of spreading the Broadband foot-print to our smaller towns and

villages. Thus a mix of technologies like WiMax (802.16), WiFi (802.11) etc., come to

mind.(Trai 2010).The extent of Broadband Wireless Access is expected to grow through already

deployed technologies viz. 2G and 3G. By September 2010, number of GSM and CDMA users

was 687.71 million.Of these, about 274 million subscribed to wireless data (about40%) ie. were

accessing Internet services from cell phones. The increase in the number of mobile Internet users

has been threefold between 2007 and 2009(DoT 2004;DoT 2010; Trai 2010).

Thus the apex Telecom think-tank in our country endorses wireless access as the way forward

for Broadband penetration and its direct relationship to the prosperity of our nation.

Though the earlier National Telecom Policiesof 1994 and 1999 have been catalysts for growth of

the telecom sector - cellular mobile networks have been rolled out at a breakneck speed with

more than 886.0 million subscribers as of June 2011, though the penetration in rural areas with

298.1 million connections has not been encouraging. Alongside the yawning divide between the

urban and rural teledensities, the extent of penetration of broadband (1.0%approx.) is way behind

the advancesin telephony (teledensity of 74.0).Against this backdrop, the Government of India

felt there is a dire requirementfor a new telecom policy to bridge theseshortcomings and take

steps towards becoming a world leader(DoT 2012).

“In short, NTP 2012 provides a clear direction towards a manifold increase in Broadband

penetration, especially through wireless access. Some key excerpts (DoT 2012):

a) Increase in rural teledensity from the current level of around 35 to 60 by the year

2017 and 100 by the year 2020.

b) Provide affordable and reliable broadband on demand by the year 2015 and to

achieve 175 million broadband connections by the year 2017 and 600 million by the

year 2020 at minimum 2 Mbps download speed and making available higher speeds

of atleast 100 Mbps on demand.

c) Provide high speed and high quality broadband access to all village panchayats

through optical fibre by the year 2014 and progressively to all villages and

habitations.

d) To reposition the mobile phone from a mere communication device to an instrument

of empowerment that combines communication with proof of identity, fully secure

financial and other transaction capability, multi-lingual services and a whole range of

other capabilities that ride on them and transcend the literacy barrier.

e) Promote an ecosystem for participants in VAS industry value chain to make India a

global hub for Value Added Services (VAS).

f) Ensure adequate availability of spectrum and its allocation in a transparent manner

through market related processes. Make available additional 300 MHz spectrum for

International Mobile Telephony (IMT) services by the year 2017 and another 200

MHz by 2020.

g) Accord the Telecom Industry the status of Infrastructure Sector so as to catapult ICT

as a true means of advancement.”

If everything is so cut and dry, why is this research merited?

As already brought out, TRAI has advocated Broadband Wireless Access in its recommendations

made to the Government in its paper “Growth of Telecom services in Rural India –The way

forward”. There are many reasons that are in its favour – ease of deployment, existing passive

infrastructure to some extent, subsequent reduced effort in its operation and maintenance, all this

is especially applicable to the ultimate aim of spreading the Broadband foot-print to our smaller

towns and villages. Thus a mix of technologies like WiMax (802.16), WiFi (802.11) etc., have

been mooted(Trai 2006).

ITU-R had evaluated six technologies which were trying to qualify as true mobile wireless

broadband 4G technologies. This requirement was termed as IMT-Advanced by ITU-R.

Rationalisation led to two being conferred IMT-Advanced status. These were WirelessMAN –

Advanced and LTE-Advanced. They qualified for the IMT – Advanced first release at the behest

of the 5D Working Party of ITU-R, who have been given the responsibility of freezing the

specifications for true 4G technologies to be accepted as LTE-Advanced. The next step for these

two technologies would be the final process before a Recommendation is finalized by this group,

containing detailed standards related to the technologies.

Up till now BWA planners and implementers were working with mobile WiMax which had

entered the domain in 2006 and the earlier release of LTE dated 2009. Though they were flouted

to be 4G technologies by the marketers, they were not accepted to be such by ITU-R. As just

brought, as far as ITU-R was concerned, the mantle of 4G meeting the standard stipulated for

IMT – Advanced could only be worn by the IEEE 802.16m standardized “WirelessMAN

Advanced” and the 3GPP floated Release 10 “LTE Advanced”. Both these “Advanced”

technologies have many common features based on the same recent technologies like Multiple

Input Multiple Output (MIMO), System Architecture Evolution (SAE) and Orthogonal

Frequency Division Multiple Access (OFDMA).

IEEE evolved a standard under the 802.16 umbrella including many related protocols which

pertained to a radio technology that extended the range from that of a LAN - Local Area

Network (IEEE 802.11 pertained to this) to that of a MAN - Metropolitan Area Network, called

WiMax. It provided for, at that time a new concept, a unique mode of radio access by a scheme

called Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiple Access (OFDMA) for downstream as well as

upstream traffic. Wireless data communication was facilitated using diverse configurations, point

to point or point to multi-point static or nomadic links as well as links with full mobility. In

addition, though most radio technologies in these frequency bands provide only Line-of-Sight

(LoS) communications, WiMax Forum maintained that their technology when used over reduced

distances, say 10 kms, could provide Non-Line-of-Sight (NLoS) links also. Its LoS coverage

could even reach 70 kms.

Like LTE, Mobile WiMax’sarchitecture adopts an all-IP network set-up. 75 Mbps bit-rates have

been achieved, depending on the depth of modulation and the configuration of the antennas.

Realistic figures, though, were 10 Mbps over extended ranges. Initial issues of the standard

covered LoS communication in the 10 – 66 GHz spectrum band using FDD and TDD TDMA.

The standard was the enhanced to cater for NLoS links at 2 – 11 GHz exploiting the more recent

OFDMA technology. The entire bandwidth could be dynamically sub-channelised and dynamic

distribution of time-slots to various users could also be undertaken simultaneously. This standard

was then given to the 802.16m task-force for further enhancements to comply with IMT –

Advanced requirements. This was toted to be Mobile WiMax Release 2.

The first stabilized standard which led to WiMax deployments was IEEE 802.16-2004. The

amendment to this standard, IEEE 802.16e-2005, provided for the much improved S-OFDMA

(Scalable-Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiple Access). Diverse other specifications were

enhanced so as to enable mobility. These led to the WiMax System Release 1. Deployments

based on this Release first appeared in 2006. This release was then worked upon resulting in

much value addition via IEEE 802.16-2009.

However, the ultimate objective was to qualify for the ITU-R IMT – Advanced criteria. This

qualification was to be achieved vide the IEEE 802.16m amendment, specifications that would

not only satisfy but exceed the stipulations of pure 4G IMT – Advanced. One of the strict

stipulations is to make it backward compatible with existing deployments, thus facilitating

Telcos with the present day WiMax ecosystem to effortlessly transition to this upgraded

technology and thus enjoy its diverse benefits and in turn pass it on to the customers by way of

advanced applications and services. This would be known as the WiMax System Release 2. This

version is meant to include services in all the bands licensed by IMT below 6 GHz. It would be

available in both FDD and TDD flavours, besides including H-FDD (half-duplex FDD). This

would add to its compatibility with existing approved frequency bands.

One of the biggest value additions this amendment will bring about is almost a two-fold increase

in the spectral efficiency. This has a direct relationship to enhancements in the data channel

capacity and data bit-rates. Another great feature is that channel aggregation is extended to even

channels which are not contiguous, besides of course, contiguous ones. This results in an

effective aggregate bandwidth of up to 100 MHz. What is unique is that the aggregated channels

may not be of equal bandwidth nor in the same spectrum band. This will be a real boon to Telcos

owning different amounts of spectrum in different frequency bands. Aggregation would lead to a

large consolidated bandwidth capable of supporting very high data bit-rates.

The Telecom land scape as of now is dotted by some predominant technologies. To begin with

we had the 2G infrastructure supported by CDMA and GSM. Then came 3G with its plethora of

schemes like UMTS, WCDMA, CDMA 2000, EVDO and different versions of HSPA. In the

mind of the 3GPP the logical next-step is LTE which is an evolved advance on its UMTS,

WCDMA and HSPA technologies. LTE, as it is normally called, has been specified by the 3GPP

as Evolved UMTS Terrestrial Radio Access Network (E-UTRAN) and Evolved UMTS

Terrestrial Radio Access (E-UTRA). Its key differentiators are its much reduced latency,

excellent spectral efficiency and tremendous bit-rates. The bit-rates that have been achieved,

depending on the depth of modulation and the configuration of the antennas range from 50 Mbps

to 90 Mbps for upstream traffic and 100 Mbps to 300 Mbps for downstream. Mobility

requirements are met at even 350 kmph with 500 kmph being targeted. Another significant factor

for its adoption, especially as far as service providers are concerned, is its backward

compatibility with the GSM 3G and 2G technologies. What attracts the Telcos even more is that

the core LTE network facilitates service hand-offs between the LTE domain and the

EVDO/CDMA 2000 infrastructure.

LTE’s versatility is that it offers access through the Time Division Duplex (TDD) and the more

commonly adopted Frequency Division Duplex (FDD) schemes. Thus operators with networks

based on TD-SCDMA can also make an effortless shift to LTE TDD networks. It is expected

that many economies would go in for a dual-mode TDD-cum-FDD-LTE infrastructure.

The goal behind the evolution to LTE is to deploy infrastructure based on a technology that

offers radio access with superior specifications at high rates of mobility and is at the same time

backward compatible with current 3.5/3/2.5/2G technologies. Hence, it is envisaged that the

transition to this advanced technology can be smooth and due its bandwidth being scalable the

migration of their infrastructure can be achieved spread over a period of time to suit the designs

of individual operators. Though its architecture adopts an all-IP network set-up and it supports

packetized voice, for quite some years to come one would see this advanced technology

peacefully coexisting with its predecessors (3G/2G) over a multi-mode ecosystem.

LTE is capable of downlink peak data rates up to 326 Mbps with 20 MHz bandwidth, uplink

peak data rates up to 86.4 Mbps with 20 MHz bandwidth. Operation in both TDD and FDD

modes, scalable bandwidth up to 20 MHz, covering 1.4, 3, 5, 10, 15, and 20 MHz.Increased

spectral efficiency over Release 6 HSPA by a factor of two to four, reduced latency, up to 10

milliseconds (ms) round-trip times between user equipment and the base station, and to less than

100 ms transition times from inactive to active

Some of the LTE-Advanced important features are - services are compatible, increased bit-rates

facilitating advanced applications and services - 1 Gbps for low mobility and 100 Mbps for high

mobility, achievable with a 70 MHz bandwidth and an antenna configuration of 4 x 4 MIMO.

Spectrum efficiency ismore than thrice that of LTE. Peak spectrum efficiency: Upstream – 6.75

bps per Hz. Downstream – 30 bps per Hz. Spectrum utilisation: can support scalable use of

bandwidth and where spectrum to be used is non-contiguous, spectrum aggregation can be

adopted. Latency: 10 ms to move from dormant state to active state. Approximately 50 ms to

move from Idle to Connected.Throughput of user at edge of Cell: double that of LTE.

Throughput of average user: triple that of LTE. Mobility parameters are same as that of LTE.

Backward compatible with current 3.5/3/2.5/2G technologies.

Recentlya new WiMax network was launched, a relatively rare happeningin the current

scenario.Nepal Telecom commercially launched its WiMax network covering the Kathmandu

Valley.It’s only for “priority customers” (i.e. business clients), and even when the service is

made available for the general public, they will “still not be NT´s priority”, a spokesperson said.

However, it still made the news, asWiMaxroll-outs are very rare nowadays, and that a large

number of WiMaxservice-providers have indicated that they would be moving to LTE-TDD. The

latter has not gone unrecognized by the WiMax Forum, which at the end of October announced

an updated version of its WiMax Advanced evolution roadmap that enables WiMax operators to

“access a broader ecosystem of devices and radio access technologies to more easily operate

within a multi radio access network environment”.

Perhaps the WiMax Forum is entitled to be a little reluctant to be more explicit after spending so

much time and effort promoting a technology that ultimately didn’t see as much widespread

adoption as they’d hoped – and is constantly being pilloried as a niche technology rendered

pointless by TD-LTE.On the other hand, it’s not like the WiMax Forum is in denial about its

prospects in an LTE world. Forum president Declan Byrne said as much in a recent interview

with Fierce Broadband Wireless.

Expressingthat they were satisfied with what had transpired in the recent pastto do with

WiMax'sdeployment by Telcos worldwide, but also showed awareness of the intent of the larger

Telecom service-providers to transition to LTE from WiMax. They were ready for that, and also

appreciated, that what lay ahead was the challenge of making both these technologies survivein

the Telecom ecosystem.

Indeed, for many WiMax operators – like Malaysia’s P1 – TD-LTE isn’t a replacement for

WiMax but a complementary service, with WiMax serving fixed-wireless customers and TD-

LTE serving mobile users.And even for those who plan to migrate their users off WiMax

permanently, the fact remains that they would not be established players in the wireless

broadband business today if WiMax had not offered them a way in.

If nothing else, that transition is going to be gradual. TD-LTE is in a nascent stage, and ABI

Research doesn’t expect TD-LTE subscribers to outnumber WiMax subscribers globally until at

least the middle of 2014.Everyone knows that earlier Intel had put its might behind WiMax as

being the 4G technology of choice; however, the Telecom industry gathered its’ players to back

LTE, including the TD-LTE version. This face-offsubsided recentlywith the WiMax Forum

stating that it was willing to adoptalternate technologies, eg.TD-LTE in its architectures to come.

The TDD space has been undecidedfrom the day LTE – including both FDD and TDDversions,

rose to challenge the monopoly enjoyed byWiMaxas the only technology in unpaired

frequencies. However, this does not entail that all is smooth sailing for LTE-TDD. Though it

can’t be denied its place in the future plans of a large number of operators, its ecosystem is not as

advanced as that of the FDD version, devices are not prevalent and the technology is yet to

mature. As large scale deployments take place, these will follow, but Telcos have been dragging

their feetand two significant players have postponed roll-outs.

This situation isuniversal, in India all operators are dragging their feet but for Airtel which has

launched services in four cities. Aircel has justified the delay in its TDD LTE rollouts by

attributing the same to various reasons.There is talk of reverting to the Administrative allotment

of airwaves, the genesis of the 2G spectrum scam, after the abject failure of recent rounds of

airwaves sales (operators maintain – due to the spectrum being highly over-priced). Does this

indicate stability in policy-making.The silver-lining to the dark cloud, ie.the sale of the entire

vacated spectrum and the resulting business-as-usual atmosphere which everyone was waiting

for, hence, still appears to be a long way off. The other looked forward to boost to the Industry -

roll-out of 4G, is also some way off. And here again the picture is not clear. With the recent

spectrum auctions being coupled with the “liberalised spectrum” clause in the 1800-MHz band

for 20 years, some operators, like Videocon, will be using FDD-LTE technology in this

band. And now to add another dimension to the situation the Govt is considering offering the

operators the option of swapping this spectrum with the 700-MHz band (using FDD-LTE), one

of the most efficient spectral bands, with a global ecosystem already in place.

Clearwire has rehashed its figures, drastically reducing its TDD LTE roll-out numbers for the

immediate future. One reason is attributed to investor/partners Comcast and Time Warner Cable

deserting them in favour of a Verizon LTE venture, reducing its wholesale trade. Also, even its

retail business has not been ringing in the cash-registers. Against the planned 5000 4G cell-sites,

it will be installing only 2000. This would amongst other things, affect its subscriber additions

adversely. The exercise is aimed at reducing its immediate capex pay-outs, but will prolong its

eventual WiMax transition to TDD LTE. This will also, unfortunately, result in its losing first-

mover advantage to other operators pursuing 4G aggressively. But the company claims that this

will help it balance its LTE earning from their prime wholesale client – Sprint with their

infrastructure expansion expenditure. The slow-down will not, luckily for them, not slow-down

the advance payments committed by Sprint. Another silver-lining to the darkish cloud, is the

impending 70% buy-out of Sprint by Japanese giant Softbank, who already run a TDD LTE

network at home. The company has good reason to believe that Softbank will make some sorely

needed investments in the Clearwire-Sprint JV.

Though these setbacks are not earth-moving, they, however, delay the inevitable, ie. the presence

of a large number of TD-LTE or dual-mode devices in countries other than India and China.It is

well known that China Mobile is LTE-TDD’s biggest supporter and has a humongous subscriber

base. Also, established WiMaxoperators are also drifting to LTE, eg.Yota in Russia.This will

combine the FDD and TDD strands to a far greater extent, and introduce a broad range of new

functions, many of them optional. Early adopters are particularly interested in carrier aggregation

and this is the feature which Yota has deployed in selected base stations in Moscow, working

with Huawei. CA is also the element on which SKT, another early mover, has concentrated as it

begins to take the first steps to LTE-A.

The appearance of LTE-A will pushWiMax still further to the wall in the mobile market and its

trade body, the WiMax Forum, is acknowledging the inevitability of carrier migration to LTE

now. The organization has, as a result modified its standard to incorporate specifications relevant

to TDD LTE and its “WiMax Advanced” framework will support various air interfaces. Though

the president of the association, Mr. Declan Byrne, put up a brave face, negating that there would

be a mass-exodus from WiMax to competing air-interfaces, it can however be construed, that

what he was bent on denying, was in fact about to happen or was to some extent already taking

place in the wireless broadband market-place.

The world body went on record saying that there was uniform accord in its Board regarding it’s

about to be published WiMax 2.1 standard including specifications relevant to TDD LTE. The

standard is about to be finalized in the near future, and as expected, it would be based around an

all-IP core. Besides its own 802.16 air-interface it will also render support to those approved in

respect of associated 4G technologies under the umbrella of 3GPP. This would enable service

providers with SDR based multi-mode BTSs to cater to the needs of subscribers of both TDD

LTE and WiMax by providing standardised services, in fact, some Telcos are already into this

space.

The goal of this complex exercise is to ensure that operators who have made large investments in

WiMax are not left in the lurch. Larger numbers in the dual-mode ecosystem, would reduce

costs, and help these Telcos migrate gracefully, in the interim also enabling the multi-mode

manufacturing industry to prolong their earnings, both from hand-sets and chip-sets. The service

providers would bear the fruits of co-existence of both platforms on a common infrastructure.

Unfortunately for WiMax, the bells had started tolling some time back. In spite of WiMax

having a reasonable infrastructure in place, the continuum provided by the 2G to 3G to 4G

technologies sponsored by the 3GPP, meant that they would have the backing of the

wireless/mobile players. Though, to sustain their survival, the WiMax forum had started making

compromising overtures towards the 3GPP recommending a multi-mode infrastructure and

peaceful coexistence. But, we know what the facts are may be 802.16 should abandon its

mobility ambitions and strengthen its presence in the fixed wireless space, both in the last mile

and in MANs, where there are hindrances to fiber lay-out. They also stretch out to specific

industry based applications eg. Aviation, smart-grid etc.

It is felt, that though the WiMax world body is making the right moves, they have left it to too

late. Their standard-bearers across the world – Clearwire of America, Russia’s Yota, Malaysia’s

Packet One, to name a few, are, if not abandoning their technology, treading the path of dual-

technology, perceivably with the ultimate aim of making sole commitments to 3GPP’s LTE

Advance.

The WiMax Forum has largely stopped discussing the next generation of its standard, 802.16m

or WiMax2, but it is promoting the WiMax Advanced extension to its platform as well as

specialized subsets of the standard tailored for key markets like the utilities (WiGrid). WiMax

Advanced focuses on a more generic IP broadband data framework which can embrace various

radio access methods including 802.16 and the 3GPP and potentially 802.11 standards.“WiMax

has always stood for innovation, open standards and low IPR costs,” Forum chairman Mo

Shakouri said in a statement, “Our focus is to preserve these fundamental values of the WiMax

Forum and continue to build a powerful and broad ecosystem that addresses the needs of

operators and customers worldwide.”

As expected, there are differences in the implementation of the TDD and FDD versions of LTE.

The frame formats of the up/down links in TDD LTE aren’t fixed as these channels are not

paired. The two links are separated by a guard timeslot. This helps in resources being distributed

between the two channels on an as required basis depending upon the requirements of the load.

Most internet traffic is asymmetric, with users downloading more than uploading. Hence this

version of LTE lends itself better to the individual mobile broadband customers’ requirements.

On the other hand, as FDD LTE has paired symmetric frequencies being used for the up/down

links. The two links are separated by a guard frequency band. Hence, the frame format is fixed.

This often results in the underutilisation of the upstream channel and an overload on the

downstream one.

Over the next few years more and more Telcos will adopt 4G LTE. Mobile data traffic will

increase manifold, the focus will be very fast date rates and high-density traffic. Obviously

spectrum will then become an issue. Even now, most operators are short of the requisite bands.

Hence, one would have to take what is available and optimise its utilization. As the formalized

FDD bands are already occupied to a great extent, 3GPP has also formalized eight TDD

frequency bands that are unpaired, in its standard.

If one considers this part of the world, the ones that will be the focus of attention as far as roll-

outs are concerned are the 2.5/2.6 GHz frequency band (Band 38) and the 2.3 GHz frequency

band (Band 40). The BWA auctions in India pertained to the latter, while the state run agencies

were allotted spectrum in the earlier. These two bands are also the ones which are likely to be

used in our neighbouring country China by its biggest service provider China Mobile.

If one has to choose a more equal out of the above mentioned two bands, the 2.3 GHz frequency

Band (Band 40) will get the nod. Reliance Industries, BhartiAirtel, Aircel and Tikona Digital

amongst other Telcos had won 20 MHz of 2,300-MHz spectrum in each circle for BWA

services. These firms along with BSNL had together paid Rs 38,543 crore for three blocks of

spectrum, and they have been sitting on this major chunk of spectrum for the last three years

obtaining no Returns on a very huge Investment. It is expected that the TDD LTE roll-outs by

China Mobile would also occupy this slot. This is also an approved band for WiMax, though

coming to techniques, TDD LTE can be squeezed into even a 10 MHz bandwidth, while WiMax

finds 20 MHz also a tight fit. This is another reason for operators tilting towards LTE.

In Europe, Telcos are sitting on a good deal of unutilized spectrum in Bands 33, 34, 35 and 36.

Part of this holding, was acquired as 3G assets. Band 38 can also be utilised for unpaired TDD

LTE roll-outs and services, in complement to the Band 7 FDD LTE services. Many suggestions

have been forthcoming regarding the utilisation of the TDD bands – spectrum sharing for

enhanced TDD LTE resources, Mobile TV broadcast applications, etc.

Most Telcos treat spectrum the way the rest of the world treats gold. As technologies have

multiplied, so have the air-interfaces, this has resulted in an ever increasing shortage of vacant

frequency bands. With this in mind, the operators will have to shed the grass is greener on the

other side (FDD LTE) stance and innovate to maximize utilization and returns from TDD LTE.

The ecosystem will follow. As of now there is more than 300 MHz available in these eight

frequency bands, it is also expected that 3GPP will soon ratify two additional bands in the

3.5/3.7 GHz range as Bands 41 and 42. The ball now is in the service providers’ court, and it is

for them to win the game.

But, yes, there is a dilemma that they face, along with OEMs. Volumes are important in this

business, and they have to make an accurate guesstimate as to which bands would ultimately

mature the fastest with the ecosystem being frozen the earliest. For that is where the optimum

revenues will be generated. As already brought out, as of now it appears, given the market size in

India and China, the ones that will be the focus of attention as far as roll-outs are concerned are

the 2.5/2.6 GHz frequency band (Band 38) and the 2.3 GHz frequency band (Band 40). This is

especially so due to the extent regulations regarding them are in place as also the level these

bands have been standardized.

One way of overcoming this dilemma would be to incorporate Software Defined Radio (SDR)

feature in ones BTSs which would help build-in multi-mode capability and the flexibility which

accrues to help operators to shift to bands which ultimately have the best ecosystem, thus

ensuring adequate returns-on-investment. SDR capable LTE devices are already being marketed

by some well-known OEMs.

Both FDD LTE and TDD LTE are techniques which are complementary and where the

frequency is common, hand-off and roaming is possible between the two. Besides, both these

techniques embrace a slew of other common traits like very low delays, an all-IP framework,

support for Multiple-input/Multiple-output (MIMO), good spectral efficiency etc. Yet, their

difference would help service providers to utilize big chunks of unpaired frequencies in TDD

LTE bands which are lying unexploited.

An important aspect of TDD LTE is the use of Orthogonal Frequency-Division Multiple Access

(OFDMA). This helps one to incorporate complementary advanced radio solutions like beam-

forming, MIMO etc. with relative ease. Also, with the help of highly developed MIMO

technology, throughput is increased tremendously while simultaneously the interference is

reduced drastically. The frame formats of the up/down links in TDD LTE aren’t fixed as these

channels are not paired. The two links are separated by a guard timeslot. This helps in resources

being distributed between the two channels on an as required basis depending upon the

requirements of the load. Most internet traffic is asymmetric, with users downloading more than

uploading. Hence this version of LTE lends itself better to the individual mobile broadband

customers’ requirements. On the other hand, as FDD LTE has paired symmetric frequencies

being used for the up/down links. The two links are separated by a guard frequency band. Hence,

the frame format is fixed. This often results in the under-utilisation of the upstream channel and

an overload on the downstream one.

Advanced Digital Signal Processing (DSP) and MIMO are very relevant to the realm of 4G LTE.

They enhance throughput and reduce interference, hence with, say, the same given transmitter

output power, even with a 2 x 2 MIMO configuration, capacities of the cell and data-rates are

increased by as much as 50%. This is of great benefit to TDD LTE, as in comparison to its FDD

cousin, these specifications are considerably lower. As MIMO techniques become even more

sophisticated, an eventual 8 x 8 configuration for the downlink, these parameters are only headed

northwards.

Data from TDD LTE tests carried out by China Mobile is available and the ground reality

matches the lab-room expectations of the equipment vendors. Firstly, data rates the downstream

ones peaked at about 80 Mbps while the upstream ones touched about 30 Mbps. Delay in the

user channel was not more than 30 ms and in the control channel was contained to 100 ms.

Handovers were successful, but for in 3% of the cases, and happened within 100ms. The desired

coverage was also obtained with the BTS to MS distances of about 2 to 4.5 kms and 2 to 3 in the

reverse direction.

A significant advantage enjoyed by TDD LTE is that it can be squeezed into even a 10 MHz

bandwidth, albeit, with a commensurate reduction by half in the data-rates. Equipment suppliers

can also incorporate Software Defined Radio (SDR) feature in ones BTSs which would help

build-in multi-mode capability and the flexibility which accrues to help operators to shift to

bands which ultimately have the best ecosystem, thus ensuring adequate returns-on-investment.

SDR capable LTE devices are already being marketed by some well-known OEMs.

Another innovative measure adopted by OEMs of TDD LTE equipment is to make optional use

of the Distributed Radio Network System. In this configuration, the baseband and RF sub-

systems are located physically apart. Interfacing is with help of an optical cable, deploying either

the Common Public Radio Interface (CPRI) or Open Base Station Architecture Initiative

(OBSAI)protocols. Two major plus points of this scheme are that the RF units are mounted close

to the antennae, thus reducing drastically the loss of the RF signal in the feeder-cables. Also, the

size of the equipment to be housed in the shelter is reduced tremendously and so are its HVAC

requirements, ie. it leaves a “zero-footprint”.

Yet another benefit of the Distributed Radio Network System is its support for multi-standard

BTSs. The base units housed in the shelters are compatible with a variety of technologies viz.

both versions of LTE, 3G and 2G. These can then couple with multiple standard RF units (which

support all three sectors of a cell) or Remote Radio Heads (RRHs) (one per sector). These units

are yet to evolve into SDRs (some vendors are using this misnomer), but as of now are composed

of diverse multi-standard sub-units covering the desired range of frequencies and modulations

housed in one assembly.

As is evident from the results of the tests undertaken by China Mobile, the downlink ranges of

TDD LTE peak at about 4.5 kms. This would provide adequate coverage in cell located in cities

and towns, but will definitely not serve the purpose in rural areas. On the other hand, FDD LTE,

due to the utilization of bands located at relatively lower frequency ranges has a greater coverage

area. As a thumb-rule one could say that the coverage provided by TDD LTE (configured at a

2:1 downstream to upstream ratio) is around half that of FDD LTE. Some of the hybrid TDD

LTE and FDD LTE profiles that can be thought of are:

If the solution has to be solely based on TDD LTE, then the area of operation for which it would

be best suited would be in an urban environment as the most important requirement is the

capability of taking care of high-density traffic. Centres of even higher traffic intensity could be

augmented with TDD LTE pico-cells or micro-cells.

Else one can go in for multi-mode solutions, relying on 3G/HSPA where customer density is

sparser, switching to TDD LTE in higher concentration areas. Thus, in India the 2300 Mhz band

can be deployed for this and where 4G LTE coverage is not existing, roaming agreements can be

made with existing 3G operators.

In China, China Mobile could go in for another solution – use 2600 MHz TDD LTE frequency

band for its extended macro-cell infrastructure outdoors, and the 2300 MHz band for TDD LTE

pico-cells or femto-cells to cover indoors.

In the recent past, an elaborate and comprehensive system has evolved worldwide that aids in

fast deployment of complete LTE infrastructure solutions favouring both the TDD and FDD

technologies. The ultimate deployment of technologies depends upon the maturity of the

ecosystem. As far as the customer is concerned, it means easily available and reasonably priced

devices and package plans. To ensure this, China Mobile has been preparing the ground work

along with a large number of Telcos under the aegis of 3GPP so as engender interoperability, to

some extent, between TDD and FDD LTE. To foster growth of a mature TDD environment, it is

in joint programmes with many international service providers. Telcos all over the world are

committing to and working on utilizing TDD LTE for some or the other segment of their 4G roll-

out plans.

This growth is all inclusive, and not restricted only to the operators. Under its umbrella are

component (including chips) makers, hand- held/ other terminal manufacturers, and OEMs

responsible for network equipment. BTS equipment ex-prominent OEMs have already been

tested in the TDD LTE spectrum of interest viz. 2300 MHz and 2600 MHz. As already brought

out, China has been seeing a lot of action involving a large number of Telcos, OEMs and

component makers under the sponsorship of 3GPP so as engender interoperability, to some

extent, between TDD and FDD LTE especially in the case of TDD LTE devices.

However, the results have been slow in coming. The price differential between TDD and FDD

LTE devices of comparable specifications is still considerable and will inhibit large scale

acceptance. The prices of CPE are also still way above WiMax or 3G modems. So is the case

with tablets and smartphones. And this is a cyclical phenomenon, volumes drive competitive

prices, and of course, competitive prices drive volumes. The wireless broadband space is set to

mushroom, thus the TDD LTE ecosystem has to be expedited on turbo-chargers so as to be able

to compete with other 4G systems. Towards this end, China Mobile has also taken the drastic

step of inviting vendors based in Republic of China (Taiwan) to provide components, BTS and

other network equipment for its TDD LTE infrastructure.

One of the biggest business drivers in the years to come is going to be mobile data. In 2010

itself, the monthly average data usage per consumer was 1 GB. This was when the average

smartphone penetration in the world was about 20%. It is forecast that this number would

become twice in the coming four years. By 2015, as far as the USA is concerned, the penetration

of smartphones would reach 60%. There are a slew of mobile terminal devices on offer,

laptops/netbooks, tablets and smartphones. Tablets and smartphones now come with increasingly

attractive features – powerful processors, giant touch-enabled screens, multi-media-ready,

encouraging the average subscriber to be forever-connected. This is driving data consumption

like never before. And the brighter side of the picture for the Telcos is the resultant increased

Average Revenue per User (ARPU).

This spurt in mobile-data consumption, fuelled, as seen, by increasingly capable tablets and

smartphones, is way beyond the capacity of the prevalent 3G infrastructure. Most 3G service

providers are already operating the networks at their maximum capability. In fact, the picture in

case of users with maximum consumption is rather grim, as the infrastructure is getting strained

and the desired level of user-experience is getting compromised. Customer additions are out of

the question. Even to give a reasonable quality of service to the existing customers, the service

providers are being compelled to rehash their offerings by revising prices and putting a limit on

the usage of mobile data. The way the industry is combatting this tidal-wave of mobile data is

two-pronged. Many Telcos are augmenting their 3G capability by incorporating advanced HSPA

elements. But a good number are going the whole hog by moving to the latest 4G LTE

technology, not only obtaining first-mover advantage, but also coming up with a futuristic

solution to the demands of ever increasing mobile-data. Even those enhancing 3G resources

admit to the inevitable cross-over to 4G LTE in the next couple of years.

Beginning 2010, nine number of commercial LTE launches were declared, and it was anticipated

that before the year ran out, this number would swell to twenty. In 33 nations across the world, a

total of 80 service providers had made their intent clear regarding the adoption of LTE and

assessments/trials were underway, to some extent or the other. The first LTE networks to be

launched commercially in the USA and Scandinavia used the FDD technology. Predictably they

proffered high data-rate mobile Internet connectivity with help of USB dongles for use with

laptops/netbooks. Sensing Verizon’s imminent LTE launch, MetroPCS became the first Telco in

the USA to provide LTE in Detroit, Dallas-Fort Worth and Las Vegas. The packages were

monthly with a fixed rate. By early 2011 they had spread to another eleven metros. End 2010

saw Verizon’s entry into this domain utilising FDD LTE in the 700 MHz frequency band. The

launch covered thirty-eight important cities providing services to about 110 million points-of-

presence. Coverage was also given to 60 airports. At the back of exhaustive tests in two different

locations, Verizon was confident of their new network working up a capacity of mobile broad-

band ten times that of its existing EVDO infrastructure.

To begin with the device portfolio of both US operators was very limited. While Verizon started

off by offering embedded laptops and one USB dongle, they later added a few FDD LTE

smartphones to their range. On the other hand, MetroPCS added to their dongles by later offering

its LTE customers the Samsung Craft smartphone at subsidized rates. They also intend to add to

their range. Both operators will be spoiled for choice as practically every leading handset

manufacturer be it an Apple, Samsung, Nokia, RIM, HTC, etc. is ready with FDD LTE touch-

enabled, large-screen smartphones capable of very fast data-rates and excellent multi-media

capabilities.

To keep pace with this rapidly developing FDD LTE ecosystem is the trying to catch-up TDD

LTE environment. Driven by the anticipation of large numbers in India and China the TDD LTE

value-chain is firming-up. Also, the bulk of the paired FDD LTE bands have already been

allotted, and the available balance is steeply priced. These two reasons are causing yet to

become, as well as older LTE service providers to drift towards the relatively uncharted waters

of TDD LTE by procuring frequency spectrum harmonious with it.

Shepherded by the ITU and 3GPP, with the requisite regulations and standards in place, the TDD

LTE ecosystem will soon be maturing given the active participation of the complete value-chain.

The major portion of this attention is focused towards the 2300 MHz and 2600 MHz frequency

bands.

Universal convergence of the spectrum being utilized for TDD LTE is making the whole world a

market-place for this technology. It goes without saying, that this is absolutely essential to drive

business by multiplying volumes, providing economies of scale across the complete ecosystem

and bringing in the desired returns on investment. Driven by the anticipation of large numbers in

India and China (some guesstimate this to be in hundreds of millions) the TDD LTE value-chain

is gearing-up in anticipation. The larger the numbers, the more harmonious the technology will

become for component/equipment suppliers, operators and eventually for mobile broadband

subscribers. In other words, a win-win situation for all.

As mentioned earlier, the BWA auctions in India pertained to bands which could be adopted for

WiMax or TDD LTE. Most operators are going to be adopting the latter. These two bands are

also the ones which are likely to be used in our neighbouringcountry China by its biggest service

provider China Mobile for TDD LTE services. In fact, at present China Mobile has the largest

number of mobile services customers in the world. Hence, the likely number of mobile

broadband subscribers in the coming years in these two nations is going to be enormous.

As also brought out earlier, some frequency bands (eg. bands 38 and 40) used by TDD LTE and

WiMax are common. And anticipating a decline in WiMax and the simultaneous uptrend in TDD

LTE, many Telcos worldwide (Sprint, Yota, Clearwire, to name a few) have started a transition

towards the latter. In the interim, some are providing services from both platforms. As on date,

the TDD LTE ecosystem is yet to mature and the economies of scale yet to fructify, with WiMax

devices being much cheaper and a fully functional infrastructure in place, but where the future is

headed is becoming quite apparent.

The ultimate challenge for Telcos is to attract mobile broadband customers in large numbers to

ensure adequate returns on investment. To do this they have to reduce the cost of delivering

high-speed data to the end-user. Slowly this cost in respect of TDD LTE is edging towards the

numbers existing for FDD LTE. A significant advantage enjoyed by the TDD technology is that

unpaired spectrum means that the downstream channels can out-number the upstream channels,

hence heavy-traffic video based applications can be supported with ease. In the normal course,

individual internet users (as opposed to enterprises), download much more than they upload. On

the other hand FDD has equal bands of paired frequencies for downstream and upstream

channels. Hence, it holds to reason that the TDD version can be optimally utilized (in FDD the

upstream may be underutilized) by the service providers, making its deployment more cost-

effective.

As far as the network foot-print and the frequencies used are concerned, a couple of deductions

can be adduced. Firstly, rapid country-wide roll-outs are possible, South Korea is a case in point

(though it is a small nation) – all the three vendors managed this. Secondly, majority of the

leading world service providers use the 1700/2100 MHz or 1800 MHz bands (and not the 2600

MHz band). In Sweden, both the service providers, Tele2 and TeliaSonera, set off using the 2600

MHz band, but subsequently Tele2 spread to 800/1800 MHz and TeliaSonera added the 800

MHz band. Their country-wide footprint now encompasses about 60%.

Though LTE is a new technology, and its adoption at a nascent stage, one can say that the USA

and South Korea and to some extent Japan, are reasonably ahead in the maturity of the

infrastructure coupled with their service offerings and number of LTE clients. To conclude,

analysis of their LTE ecosystems leads to the following deductions: service providers have a

nation-wide foot-print, a reasonably good suite of devices and finally a negligible mark-up on 3G

package rates. The lack of the last attribute has impeded growth in Europe.

As far as the number of LTE customers is concerned, the USA is the largest area of interest in

terms of maturity, as far as this advanced technology is concerned. Verizon’s unlimited voice

and SMS offering with a focus on the data is, presumably, the future, when data would reign

supreme and the networks would provide high-speed service to connected devices – the so called

“Internet of Things”, this scenario being the major source of their earnings. However, its efficacy

can’t be gauged as yet, as other service providers are yet to follow suit.

The next lot of Telcos rolling-out 4G LTE networks and services will scrutinize the early movers

experiences closely so as to deduce a further course of action. Analysis of their LTE ecosystems

leads to the following deductions: service providers have a nation-wide foot-print, a reasonably

good suite of devices and finally a negligible mark-up on 3G package rates. However, what

approach the followers adopt, only time will take.

Regards devices, most service providers are offering similar terminals, namely, tablets,

smartphones or dongles. The earlier two should really aid in the adoption of this technology, as

price drops are expected to be much sharper than in the early days of 3G. Hence ready

availability of suitable devices will not impede adoption, while on the other hand attractive Telco

packages can accelerate its adoption.

BWA offers a rare opportunity to the service providers to try out new business models. Some

early adopters of LTE priced services based on this technology as a higher-end service as

compared to their existing 3G or GPRS plans. Thus the packages may appear pricey. The other

different model has service providers offering both LTE and 3G services purely based on data

consumption. Where good LTE infrastructure exists and the customer possesses a good LTE

enabled device, the much higher speeds are a bonus. Another facet is putting a limit to the data

on the 4G LTE plans and making 3G packages without a cap. So ultimately the decisions are

with the operators.

Another important aspect is the choice of frequency band (there are at least eight available for

LTE - from 700 MHz up to 2.6 GHz), to adopt TDD LTE or FDD LTE etc. Whether to follow

the majority (ie. enter into a mature ecosystem), or be a king in one’s own backyard. Anticipate

and weigh in competitor strategies or work to ones strengths. Indeed, difficult choices to be

made, difficult decisions to be taken and the resultant seemingly insurmountable business

challenges. And to win, one would have to take on these challenges and overcome them.

As far as LTE is concerned, change is the only constant with a rapidly transforming scenario.

Adoption is exponential, and service providers are putting adequate icing on the cake, to

accelerate it further. Recent noteworthy events include the launch of VoLTE in South Korea. SK

telecom introduced what it called “HD Voice” packaged with VoLTE enabled Samsung Galaxy

S3 phones and extended the service to those already in possession of these handsets by providing

upgrades to the software.

As far as India is concerned, besides Airtel’s 4G LTE offerings in four cities, it announced plans

to add the metros of Delhi and Mumbai to its coverage. Reliance JioInfotel, with its country-

wide licence, has also been making aggressive moves. It picked Samsung for the roll-out of its

network in Mumbai. Telstra has chosen the 1800 MHz band in Australia and has made an initial

outlay of 1.35 billion dollars for speedy ecosystem development. Singapore has seen

commitments from all three of its operators of an impending start of 4G LTE services.

They would constitute the second wave, and one waits to make analysis of their actions vis-à-vis

the first wave, and how the experiences of these combined lot of Telcos would in turn affect

operator strategies of those to follow.

Technology, however, never lies dormant, and with the advent of an alternate technology for

BWA, ie. Long Term Evolution (LTE) as a competitor to WiMax, the future of BWA is not that

lucid.

This research effort is not a crystal-ball, but will endeavour to raise pertinent issues, taking into

consideration various factors affecting the road forward, and will thus try and seek and provide

answers, if possible.

Research Problem

In the field of Technology, an important area of research is concentrated on acceptance of a

particular technology. Many theories and models have been developed most of them in the

U.S.A. Models/Theories that try and ascertain as well as predict behavior, especially in the

domain of Technology have been investigated by Researchers with a lot of vigour and over an

extended period. The main objectives of this research is to understand how one can augment the

uptake as well as investigating the reasons that prevent usage and intention to use the technology.

Each prominent technology acceptance theory or model which has not been superseded by more

recent research has different premises and benefits. It is therefore important to study them, since

it is expected that theoretical concepts from these theories will help to provide a sound basis for

the theoretical framework for evolving a research model that could assist in demonstrating the

acceptance of Technology for this research Some of the most well-known theories/models were

the:

i. Innovation Diffusion Theory (IDT). Innovations Diffusion Theory (IDT) has been used

since the 1950s to describe theinnovation-decision process. It has gradually evolved until

the best well-knowninnovation-decision process was introduced by E.M. Rogers. The

innovation-decision process is one through which anindividual (or other decision-making

unit) goes through various stages.

ii. Theory of Reasoned Action (TRA).This model forms the backbone of studies associate

with attitude-behaviour relationships. The TRA postulates that one’s thinking affects

one’s attitude and subjective norms. These factors then impact one’s behavioural

intention, which in turn has a significant influence on one’s behaviour. Intention implies

a sustained resolution towards a particular act, and as per this model is the predecessor of

behaviour.

iii. Technology Acceptance Model (TAM), deals with two key beliefs: perceived usefulness

(PU) and perceived ease of use (PEOU) and users’ attitudes, intentions and actual

technology usage behaviour. Perceived usefulness is a person’s evaluation of a particular

innovation benefitting him, while perceived ease of use is his appreciation of adopting

that particular innovation without any complications. Behavioural intention is, as per this

model, the predecessor of system usage. It is influenced directly by perceived usefulness

and one’s attitude towards adopting that technology or innovation.

iv. Technology Acceptance Model 2 (TAM2)was first introduced in 2000. The goal of

TAM2 is a logical next-step of the Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) to firstly,

include additional key determinants of TAM that explain the impact of social and other

derived factors on intent to use and perceived usefulness and secondly to appreciate how

with increasing user experience with the technology systemover a period, the impacts of

these determinants alter.

v. Theory of Planned Behaviour (TPB)is proposed as a logical next-step of the Theory of

Reasoned Action (which was related to voluntary behaviour). This was to a large extent

due to TRA not comprehensively addressing those behavioural aspects which are not

under the complete voluntary control of an individual. To overcome this shortcoming,

TPB added another construct of intention, “Perceived BehaviourControl (PBC)”.

vi. Decomposed Theory of Planned Behaviour (DTPB).This model more completely

explores the dimensions of attitude belief, subjective norm (i.e., social influence) and

perceived behavioural control by decomposing them into specific belief dimensions. The

DTPB suggests that behavioural intention is the key factor which influences ones actions,

however, the original three core constructs still exist: “Attitude Toward Behavior (ATB),

Subjective Norm (SN)”, and PBC as first introduced in TPB.

vii. Combined TAM and TPB (C-TAM-TPB). TAM hasn’t paid any heed to control and

social determinants affecting ones behavioural intention, however, these constructs do

exercise due effect on innovation/technology adoption. It may be noted that these

constructs are vital influencers of behaviour in the TPB. The study by Taylor and Todd in

1995 therefore added two factors: SN & PBC to TAM to provide a more complete test of

the important determinants of Technology adoption, due to the fact that they could

anticipate the adoption of technology and also because of their large scale acceptance in

social psychology.

viii. The Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology (UTAUT). It consists of four

key factors of usage and intention as well as four other supplementary factors affecting

the outcome. The UTAUT was postulated by propounding that these four key factors

significantly influence as to adoption of a technology and its subsequent exploitation. The

factors are - performance expectance, effort expectancy, social influence and facilitating

conditions.

The major intention among the theories/model of technology acceptance is similar because they

are being developed so as to rationalise and anticipate usage behaviour of the technologies.

Reliance Industries, Bharti Airtel, Aircel and Tikona Digital amongstother telcos had won 20

MHz of 2,300-MHz spectrum in each circle for BWA services. Bharti is the only company that

has already launched services in a few cities, while RIL is expected to make an announcement in

June. These firms and BSNL had together paid Rs 38,543 crore for three blocks of spectrum, and

they have been sitting on this major chunk of spectrum for the last three years obtaining no

Returns on a very huge Investment.

So whereth BWA? As already mentioned, the model adopted by this research was an enhanced

TAM which addedpertinent constructs taken from UTAUT and TPB. This was resorted to as the

ibid models have points to be recommendedas well as some shortcomings. Based on these, data

would be collected, analysed and surmised.

To the best my knowledge, this would be a novel approach as far as India is concerned, to

determine the future course of adoption of a technology using theories/models for Technology

Acceptance.

Objectives Of The Study This thesis is entitled “Management of Broadband Wireless Access in India”. The aim of this

study is to source data that would help predict the acceptance of BWA technology pan India. A

thoughtful appreciation of the findings couldaid practitioners to figure outwhy customers are

averse to acceptance of a technology and would thusaid in devisingeffective steps to improve the

customers’adoption of that technology. According to Davis (1989) systems are appraised for two

purposes, to anticipateadoption, and to determine the causes for non-adoptionleading to remedies

such thatadoption could be enhanced. Studies can be either exploratory, descriptive, hypothesis

testing (analytical and predictive), or they may use case study analysis. Each of thesealso assist

in overcoming issues, or help comprehend germane issues as well as help augment ones

knowledge-base in the given sphere of interest.The aim of this study, thus, leads to the

development of the following specific research objectives:

1. To compare and contrast BWA with existing large population approaches.

2. To understand the factors that restrict/facilitate the adaption of BWA

3. To determine the penetration level of BWA amongst the users and the types of users and

their attitudes towards acceptance of alternate BWA technologies.

4. To study and understand the approach of TSPs towards BWA and the challenges faced by

TSPs in its implementation.

5. To study and understand the comparative benefits of alternate BWA technologies and

TSP attitudes towards their implementation.

6. Analyse the BWA scenario in the coming years.

Importance of the Study

The findings from this research will be beneficial not only to individual academics,but also the

various agencies in the BWA value chain. In other words, this study will be very useful for three

levels include theindividual level, organisational level and the national level.

The adoption of Broadband services is increasing at a rapid rate across the globe. Facts and

figures show that the importance and usage of Broadband is growing at an exponential rate, in

countries like US, Europe and other advanced countries. This research will help in highlighting

the same to the Indian Telecom industry and also Users as to how BWA will help grow business

and build a stronger economy at the national and personal levels.

Scope of the Study One of the biggest determinants in the Telecom industry which has a virtual direct impact on the

economy is Broadband access. BWA represents a significant thrust in this direction, especially

where there are constraints in providing wireline infrastructure.

This research will cover TSPs and VAS companies, Research and Consultancy firms,

Academicians and Users, both current and potential, of BWA services.

It will try and determine Industry and User attitudes and intentions, an extended TAM

framework will be adopted for the same.

The Type of Study

There are two types of investigation: causal and correlational study. The research measured the

impact made by BWA on Broadband users and Business and Operator attitudes and intentions. It

also measured its effectiveness over traditional Broadband techniques. An Extended TAM

framework was adopted. It was temporal in nature and was conducted on a sub-section of the

respondent population. Thus the design adopted for Research was Quantitative Conclusive

Causal Cross-Sectional.

The Study Setting

The research was conducted in non-contrived settings, as the respondents were approached in

their normal habitat, or functional workplace.

Limitations of the Study This study has the following limitations: • The research shall cover BWA as the Broadband access methodology.

• The other Broadband access methods are beyond the scope of this research like :

− DSL

− Cable

− PON

− Leased line

• The research shall be a sample study across the country.

• The size of the sample is restricted due to the limited resources.

Some of the other limitations of this study are:

• The lack of adequate response from the Industry, as in:

o Only 44 out of a desired sample of 50.

o No female respondents.

o Fewer respondents from VAS and academia.

o Lack of response from Top level executives (reasons have been discussed in

Findings).

• As far as the User/Potential-users are concerned:

o Potential-users fell short by 25, ie. 75 instead of the desired 100. However, the

total number of valid responses reached 203, against the planned 200.

o Again the female sample was less as compared to the Male.

o A large portion of the sample population constituted the youth. But that is perhaps

acceptable given India’s current demographic composition and also that they are

the future of our nation.

o The rural composition could have also been slightly larger.

o Finally, at times it was found that certain concepts (eg. Speed of a Broadband

connection) were difficult to explain to the Potential-users.

• As far as secondary research is concerned, there were no limitations, as it was extensive

and current. Information was updated right up to the very end.

Methodology of the study Every effort has been made to keep the objectives at the center of this research which has

been under taken through collection of both primary and secondary data. Primary data is

collected mainly to get factual response from the Telecom Industry as well as the common

user or prospective user of Broad band services. In brief the methodology adopted is as per

succeeding paragraphs.

Sources of Data

• Primary Data

− Survey using Structured Questionnaire (Service Providers of Broadband,

Providers of VAS, Research & Consultancy firms, Users of Broadband, Potential

Users of Broadband, Academia)

• Secondary Data

− Books, Journals and Periodicals

− Contemporary Research on related topics

− Literature from Government agencies

− Literature from Research and Consultancy Companies

− Literature from Companies offering Broadband services

− Literature from related websites

Research Design The research intends to measure the impact made by BWA on Broadband users and Business and

Operator attitudes and intentions. It will also measure its effectiveness over traditional

Broadband techniques. A TAM framework may be adopted. It would be temporal in nature and

would be conducted on a sub-section of the respondent population. Research design lays down

the framework as to the actual nuts and bolts of the intended research. The research design was

devised following a number of the researcher’s decisions associated with the purpose of the

study, where the study would be conducted (i.e., the study setting), the type of study it should be

(type of investigation), the temporal aspects of the study (time horizon), the level at which the

data would be analysed (unit of analysis), sampling design (the type of sample to be used), how

the data would be collected (data collection methods), how variables would be measured

(measurement), and how they would be analysed. In other words, the research design is the step

aimed at designing the research study in such a way that an effective medium for collection of

data can be devised, the essential data can be gathered and analysed to arrive at a solution Thus

the design adopted for Research is Quantitative Conclusive Causal Cross-Sectional.

Sampling Type

The sampling will involve Service Providers of Broadband, Providers of VAS, Research &

Consultancy firms, Users of Broadband, Potential Users of Broadband, and Academia. The

division of the participants has been formed on the basis of the common attributes within a

stratum. Every stratum will contribute a random sample which would be proportionate to the size

of the stratum vis-vis the population. The ultimate random sample would be constituted by these

subsets of the strata. Thusthe sampling used will be Stratified Random Sampling. This Sampling

type was adopted to reduce the potential for human bias in the selection of units of analysis to be

included in the sample. Stratified random sample will provide us with an unbiased and

diversified sample.

Sampling Plan Survey using Structured Questionnaire

Industry based Service Providers- 20 Providers of VAS – 10 Research & Consultancy firms - 10 Academia - 10 Customer based Users of Broadband - 100 Potential Users of Broadband - 100

Sample Size: 250 Research Region : Pan India – Urban, semi-urban and rural.

Chapters Overview

This thesis is structured to provide a critical review of relevant information regarding

Broadband Wireless Access, various Technologies and Regulations associated with it in India

and abroad, certain Business and Operator aspects like Infrastructure, Data plans and pricing

packages associated with them, other issues like the current status of BWA worldwide. It also

dwells on the prominent models and theories oftechnology acceptance/social behaviour. The

research model, methodology, theoretical framework andresearch framework is provided and

discussed. Data collection and its analysisis then covered. The research findings, conclusions,

etc. bring the thesis to a close. The thesis consists of ten chapters, and its outline is as follows:

Chapter 1 provides a brief introduction to the background of the study along with theresearch

problem. The chapter also outlines the objectives of this study together withthe importance,

scope, type of study, the setting of the study, limitations of the study, methodology and the

structure of the study.

Chapter 2 reviews the literature regarding many aspects of Broadband Wireless Access

Technologyincluding different BWA technologies, viz. WiMax and LTE, Business and Operator

aspects, issues relating to Regulation and Security.

Chapter 3 provides the details of BWA in Other Countries and deals with three primary aspects,

namely Spectrum, Regulation and Technology. Technology is discussed under the heads of

WiMaxvis-à-vis LTE and then LTE FDD & TDD.

Chapter 4 if BWA has to take-off, its backbone for financial survival will be wireless data. This

is examined in this chapter under the purview of Forecasts, Revenue, Devices and Applications.

Chapter 5 covers Pricing Strategies and Package Plans in depth, dealing with Dynamic Services

Pricing, Innovative Offers, Customer-oriented Offers, Data Adoption, Increasing Data Roaming,

Leading With Content, Enriched Data Services, Shared Data Bundles, Real-Time Intelligence,

Fast Time to Market, Direct to Device Offers and Go-to-Market Strategies.

Chapter 6 examinestheCurrent Status and Trends of BWA looking at its Successful

Implementations, the Package Innovations, Lessons, Future scenario, Wi-Fi Offload, Speed-

based Pricing, LTE – Not a Panacea, LTE Pioneers Revenues, Status in China and India and

some Disruptions.

Chapter 7reviews and examines the literature related to eight prominent models

and theories of technology acceptance as well as social behaviour.It concludes by emerging with

a new, modified, enhanced TAM, which includes core constructs from other models also.

Chapter 8presents the research methodology and methods as well as the justificationof choices

and uses. In addition, the research process, design, development of the questionnaire (separate

ones for the Industry and for the Users/Potential-users), population, sample and data collection,

data analysis methodsare presented.

Chapter 9presents the Sampling Type and Plan as well as dealing with Data Collection and

Analysis. This is done separately for the Industry and for the Users/Potential-users.

Chapter 10highlights the key findings and the conclusions. In addition,suggestions

&recommendations are discussed along with the limitations of the study and suggestions

forfurther research.