Wi-Fi solutions

The other side of the story

With the government delicensing the 2.4 GHz spectrum for indoor usage, WLAN
busi-ness was given a fillip. But a huge potential, which lies in the outdoor
usage of this spect-rum, remains untapped. Unless this happens, Wi-Fi may not be
a truly profitable proposition for solution providers.

However, taking a holistic view of Wi-Fi in the country, the picture is not
too rosy. This is because the government is yet to delicense the outdoor usage
of Wi-Fi. This could have been the most profitable proposition for solution
providers including Internet Service Providers (ISPs) who are rendering
broadband services to corporates.

Not Yet There

With the delicensing of 2.4 to 2.4835 GHz radio spectrum by the Union
Government for indoor use, it was expected that India would witness wide-spread
deployment of afforda-ble broadband Internet conne-ctivity. But this is not the
case. A look at the global market drives home the fact that it outdoor usage
which brings more profitability.

Expressing his views on similar lines, Lt Col HS Bedi, CEO,
Tulip IT Services adds, "There is no doubt that cor-porates are the first
lot opting for Wi-Fi. As the government starts relaxing its norms, other sectors
would open up to the adoption of this technology. But it would take some time
for this technology to reach its peak in the country."

According to a recent study by the Indian Market Research
Bureau (IMRB), Wi-Fi is likely to face huge challenges before it is accepted in
the Indian mar-ket. The study says that low aw-areness of Wi-Fi’s benefits and
high cost of installation are the main barriers to adoption.

Market sources say that few aggressive ISPs and the
hospi-tality industry is largely driving hot-spot growth. However, they add that
more such hot-spots or Wi-Fi ecosystems are needed to make it a true technology
phenomenon.

Reality Check

Wi-Fi was not considered as an economically viable alterna-tive to wired LAN in
India, until recently. Apart from the high cost of base stations and WLAN cards,
there was an additional cost of about Rs 17,500 per year for the frequency usage
for the first user and about Rs 4,375 for every additional user, in the pre-delicensing
days.

These contributed to high capital investment and recurr-ing
expenditure per supported user. However, with the increa-sed adoption, prices of
WLAN cards and access points are expected to drop considerably.

A report by iCube on Internet usage in India, based on a
sur-vey of 200 Sify cyber cafes, says that only seven percent of Internet users
are currently using wireless to access the Internet, and 60 percent chose to
either not use it or were undecided.

According to Saurabh Nag-pal, CEO, Multilink Computers,
"The primary barrier to wide-spread adoption of Wi-Fi in the country is the
amount of mo-ney one has to pay for licensing and procuring the numerous
no-objection certificates required."

Recognizing Business Benefits

In early 2002, an indepen-dent study by NOP World one of the world´s
largest research and business information companies found that Wireless LANs
enabled end-users to stay connected an additional 1.75 hours each day, resulting
in an increase in productivity of up to 22 percent.

Indian enterprises too are fast realizing the benefits of
wireless and are adopting it. As per IDC, the WLAN equipment business here is
expected to grow by 74 percent in 2004. The business benefits of WLAN have
compelled hospitality, manufacturing, banking and financial institutions, large
corporates and EOUs (export-oriented units) as well.

Further, the recent in-buil-ding de-regulation is propelling
the adoption in public places like airports, stadiums and tourist spots among
others. Besides these the SOHO and the home segment will also be growth drivers
in India with all service providers getting aggressive in the broadband services
arena. 

Hurdles Ahead

The greatest hurdle in increasing Wi-Fi adoption is marketing of the
technology and its benefits. Consumers in India suffer from two big notions. The
first is that Wi-Fi is far more expensive as a technology platform when compared
to wired. The sec-ond is the perception that it is less secure compared to a
wired network.

If these two issues are add-ressed comprehensively it will
have a ripple effect. Enterprise adoption will grow, more devices besides the
laptop will be Wi-Fi ena-bled, more public places like airports will look at
offering Wi-Fi as a value added service or a revenue generator. All of this will
drive Wi-Fi equipment volumes thereby reducing price, increasing affo-rdability
and driving consu-mer adoption

Atanu Kumar Das