Data service of Citycell, overall market scenario and WiMAX technology Ahasanul Kabir, CSC, MBA Abstract This Paper explores opportunity of diversified data services for the expansion of business and present overall idea about WiMAX technology which is a threat to Citycell and otheroperator’s data service. This endeavor gives a clear picture of forthcoming business competition and idea of weapons to play in the market. Citycell’s position is not that stron g at data servi ce in terms of number of subscriber s in telecommu nicati on indust ry. Nonetheless Citycell has the opportunity to grab good number of unauthorized ISP’s dissatisfied internet subscriber and new acquisition by offering exclusive service. Right initiative should be taken to attain target market share. Key words: Data Service, WiMAX , T1, E1.
Data service of Citycell, overall market scenario and WiMAX technology
Ahasanul Kabir , CSC, MBA
Abstract
This Paper explores opportunity of diversified data services for the expansion of business
and present overall idea about WiMAX technology which is a threat to Citycell and other operator’s data service. This endeavor gives a clear picture of forthcoming business
competition and idea of weapons to play in the market. Citycell’s position is not that
strong at data service in terms of number of subscribers in telecommunication industry.
Nonetheless Citycell has the opportunity to grab good number of unauthorized ISP’sdissatisfied internet subscriber and new acquisition by offering exclusive service. Right
initiative should be taken to attain target market share.
Citycell is the pioneer telecommunication company and the sole CDMA operator in
Bangladesh, starts its operation in 1993. Besides providing voice, Citycell has been
offering data service for the last couple of years. It is the data service which has changedthe image of Citycell in the industry. With the process of time the opportunity to generate
good amount of revenue from voice service has been constricted. Citycell is the sole
operator which is providing intranet solution by assigning Fixed IP address throughPDSN. Upgrade and diversify of existing data service can explore new horizon of
business for Ctycell.
New Services:
Provide connectivity to run software in online for banks and other
organizations:
Requirements to run Software in online
• High speed uninterrupted dedicated bandwidth.
• Commitment to up the network or link if there is any technical glitch.
Currently most of the organizations getting this service from some ISP’s but still Citycellhas the opportunity to penetrate the market since its solution would be much better than
that of the ISP’s. Citycell is far ahead than competitor ISP’s for its existing network
infrastructure. Citycell’s nationwide BTS are added advantage for providing connectivityat any point. Connectivity can be provided directly by fiber or by radio from the nearest
POP. Migration from one vendor to another service provider is comparatively tough if
existing service is up to the mark and satisfactory. Nonetheless quality service andreasonable cost can be very effective for migration.
Level of service for migration: Instant act, provide prompt service would change the
image of Citycell, increase reliability on it which would ultimately help for the proliferation and grab of new business.
Cost: Competitive cost with satisfactory level of service will force the organizations togive a second thought for Citycell’s service initially.
Wireless internet service for home users: Around 500 unauthorized Internet Service
Providers (ISPs) are in business whose quality of internet services for the home users isvery poor. A total of 70 authorized ISPs, out of 200 licensees, are operating mainly in
Dhaka, Chittagong and Sylhet. The country's total internet home use subscription level isaround 7.5 lakh, of which around 6 lakh connections are provided by unauthorized ISPs.
Authorized ISPs usually provide internet connection through fiber optic cable, modem
cable or digital subscriber line by which subscribers can get good quality services. On the
other hand, unauthorized ISPs usually connect their customers by low quality Ethernetcables, and provide of excessive connections from a single hub slows the speed
drastically. Citycell has very good chance to grab a significant portion of unauthorized
ISP’s market share by ensuring quality service as subscribers are highly dissatisfied with
existing service.
Level of Internet Subscription for Home Users
0
100000
200000
300000
400000
500000
600000
700000
Unauthorized ISP Authorized ISP
Type of Service Provider
N u m b e r o f S u b s c r i b e r
Market Share in Percentage
80%
20%
Unauthorized ISP
Authorized ISP
SMS Banking:
Banks are heading towards prompt technology based service for satisfying customer needs and to be competitive in the market. SMS banking is one of these highly
sophisticated services. The opportunity is very high for us to provide banking service
Banks and other organizations send invitation to its clients in various occasions like
AGM, which could be replaced with SMS at a cheaper rate. So bulk SMS at cheaper rate
could be a good service of Citycell.
Bill payment through SMS:
Utility (Electricity, Gas, Water, Phone etc.) bill can be paid through SMS. This service
has already been launched by GP. Citycell can provide this opportunity to its subscribers
by utilizing and upgrading of existing infrastructures.
Internal office network infrastructure solution:
Besides giving internet and intranet solution Citycell can promote total internal officenetwork infrastructure solutions by taking the help of third party which will give Citycell
better opportunity to strength its stance in the industry. This could be an initiative of business diversification and bring the opportunity of effective Co-branding.
Overall scenario of Data Service in telecommunication industry:
Though other operators do not have any dedicated data service like ours but GP is now
doing very good in this segment. GP has increased its bandwidth significantly. I had
experience of seeing data service performance of ours and GP’s at National Bank LimitedPremise in Motijheel some 4/5 weeks back, where our maximum speed was 6.11 KBPS
and minimum was 3.75 KBPS whereas GP’s peak and lowest point was 16.5 KBPS and
15.05 KBPS consecutively. This is not only the scenario of Motijheel but it is prevailing
in other areas of the country as well. A test on performance of data service was jointlyconducted by ASA, National Bank Ltd., and Citycell at Dhamrai and Shaturia in Saver in
between 12:15 pm to 4 pm on 12th August, 2008. The comparison test reveals GP’s
superiority in speed over Citycell’s data service.
Grameen Phone is expecting to get 3G license soon. After having the approval, GP will be able to improve its data service dramatically. Recently I have received some
complains on deterioration of our data service.
GP’s number of data service user is highest in the industry which is around 2 million
followed by BL 1 million. After launching of AKTEL’s edge on 30 th May’08, number of
subscriber has increased. AKTEL’s total data subscriber is roughly 25000. WaridTelecom’s data service is becoming popular for its quality and aggressive marketing
strategy. Around 0.1 million subscribers are sticking with Warid’s data service. Citycell’s
10,000 subscribers are availing this service currently.
Three companies (ISPs) are going to get license of WiMAX (Worldwide Interoperability
for Microwave Access) by December’08 at first phase. This number will be increased
with the process of time. The chance for BracNet, Grameen Cybernet is very high to getthe license.
After launching of WiMAX, competition would be fears and that will be a big threat for
data service of Citycell. Square Infotech and BracNet are going to invest TK. 2500 crore jointly for the implementation of WiMAX project. BracNet has already laid fiber as
backbone throughout Dhaka city. 200 base stations will be established to cover the wholecity for providing service to subscribers.
Strength of WiMAX: It has the potential to replace a number of existing
telecommunications infrastructures. In a fixed wireless configuration it can replace the
telephone company's copper wire networks, the cable TV's coaxial cable infrastructurewhile offering Internet Service Provider (ISP) services. In its mobile variant, WiMAX
has the potential to replace cellular networks.
Application of WiMAX: It is so exciting for it’s broad range of applications such as
broadband internet access, *T1/E1 substitute for businesses, Internet Protocol Television
(IPTV) as cable TV substitute, backhaul for Wi-Fi hotspots and cell phone towers,mobile telephone service, mobile data TV, mobile emergency response services, wireless
Figure: Fixed WiMAX offers cost effective point to point and point to multi-point
solutions
WiMAX provides fixed, portable or mobile non-line-of sight service from a base station
to a subscriber station, also known as customer premise equipment (CPE). Some goals
for WiMAX include a radius of service coverage of 6 miles from a WiMAX base stationfor point-to-multipoint, non-line-of-sight service. This service should deliver
approximately 40 megabits per second (Mbps) for fixed and portable access applications.That WiMAX cell site offer enough bandwidth to support hundreds of businesses with T1
speeds (1.544 mbps) and thousands of residential customers with the equivalent of DSL
Figure: Mobile WiMAX allows any telecommunications to go mobile
Mobile WiMAX takes the fixed wireless application a step further and enables cell phone-like applications on a much larger scale. For example, mobile WiMAX enables
streaming video to be broadcast from a speeding police or other emergency vehicle at
over 70 MPH. It potentially replaces cell phones and mobile data offerings from cell
phone operators such as EvDo, EvDv and HSDPA. In addition to being the final leg in aquadruple play, it offers superior building penetration and improved security measures
over fixed WiMAX. Mobile WiMAX will be very valuable for emerging services such as
Wireless architecture: point-to-point and point-to-multipoint
There are two scenarios for a wireless deployment: point-to-point and point-to-
multipoint.
Figure: Point-to point and point-to-multipoint configurations
Point-to-point (P2P):
Point to point is used where there are two points of interest: one sender and onereceiver. This is also a scenario for backhaul or the transport from the data
source (data center, co-lo facility, fiber POP, Central Office, etc) to the
subscriber or for a point for distribution using point to multipoint architecture.As the architecture calls for a highly focused beam between two points range
and throughput of point-to point radios will be higher than that of point-to-
multipoint products.
Point-to-Multipoint (PMP):
As seen in the figure above, point-to-multipoint is synonymous withdistribution. One base station can service hundreds of dissimilar subscribers in
T1: Type of broadband telecommunications connection used especially to connect
Internet service provider s to the Internet's infrastructure. The “T-carrier systems” offer entirely digital, full-duplex exchange of data over traditional wire, coaxial cable, optical
fibre, microwave relay, or other communications media.
T-Carrier Total Speed No. of 64 KBPS Channels
T1 1.544 Mbps 24
The fundamental frame Organization of T1
E1: Wide-area, digital transmission scheme, that carries data at a rate of 2.048Mbps
