Wireless solutions: No limits

In the past few years, India has been at the forefront of adopting new
wireless technologies and services. According to Telecom Regulatory Authority of
India (TRAI), Internet subscriber base for year ending 2010 is expected to be as
high as 40 million. Similarly, the broadband subscriber base for next year is
expected to be 20 million. Moreover, as the wireless industry has been backed by
the Government of India, the country could see wireless market gain traction.

People in the industry believe that the primary driver for the growth and
adoption of wireless technologies is the boom in laptops and the growing
proliferation of wireless devices. Besides this, the industry has witnessed the
development of various applications on the wireless platform for various
industry segments, like manufacturing, retail, health care, hospitality and real
estate, which has led to its penetration in the various segments.

The key

The growth in the wireless market in India is driven by all industrial
segments as more and more wireless LANs (WLAN) are being set up by corporates to
complement their wired infrastructure, and more pervasive wireless networks are
set up by many IT organizations.

Wireless has enabled businesses to easily build infrastructure, while
telecommunication-service providers in turn help in expanding the customer base
in rural markets. The emphasis on e-governance has also lead to its penetration
within rural population.

Bottelnecks

Wireless equipments are more expensive when compared to wired networks, but
at the same time the maintenance cost is relatively cheaper. Wired networks
contain one of technology's

biggest growing problems-wires. And these wires usually need to cross through
rooms and floors to reach the desired locations.

Adoption of wireless technology, especially of WiMax in India has been slow
as the government has not yet released sufficient wireless spectrum. If India
releases spectrum in these bands, it will enable local service providers to take
advantage of standard WiMax silicon and equipment designed for these
frequencies.

Security of wireless connections is other issue surrounding the technology.
After the recent instances of terrorist using unsecured wireless connections to
send threatening e-mails, some wireless hotspots were closed down, especially in
public places.

The future

The coming days would be tough for wireless service providers as most
corporates have cut down their IT spends due to the slowdown. To tackle the
economic slowdown, vendors are developing training programs for the partners,
which helps them to be technically proficient and provide solutions to customers
in tough times.

Suresh Balasub­ramanian, National Sales Director-Consumer Business Group,
Cisco said, “We train and encourage our partners to provide solutions, which are
built with consumers in mind, which not only help simplify usability but also
create a premium user experience. This not only helps in boosting sales for our
partners but also helps to retain customers.”

Akhilesh Shukla

akhileshs@cybermedia.co.in