VoIP: The Catalyst for the WiMAX Ecosystem?

ARTICLE

VoIP: The Catalyst for the WiMAX Ecosystem?

By Basharat H. Ashai, Market Analyst, APAC & Middle East
Contact the author at Basharat@maravedis-bwa.com

Driven by new initiatives set by numerous small-to-medium sized WiMAX operators, VoIP is picking up momentum. VoIP is high on the list of priorities for any service provider if it’s not already being offered; VoIP capabilities can serve a market that is already flooded with GSM and CDMA technology. WiMAX networks provide operators a cost-effective VoIP solution by bundling voice communication with the data services.

Many smaller operators have added voice to their services portfolios. For instance, DigitalBridge Communications has launched a VoIP/WiMAX service with a network extending voice services to 15 markets in Virginia, Indiana, Idaho, Montana, South Dakota, and Wyoming. For Norby Telecom, VoIP over WiMAX has been working for the last three years. Almost 40% of Norby’s WiMAX subscriber base purchases the VoIP service. For Metrovia, VoIP will be introduced as a complementary, stand-alone product for the immigrant community in the USA, and as complementary product in Honduras and Guatemala.

Some WiMAX service providers that have delayed their VoIP deployment plans until mobile phones/handhelds or Mobile Internet Devices (MIDs) with embedded WiMAX, like the Nokia N810 at 3.5 GHz, hit the marketplace. Simple VoIP offered on laptops is a tough sell compared to MIDs, which are “always on” and ready to receive calls, no matter your location. This is why some service providers, like Spanish company Neo-Sky, have decided to postpone VoIP for the moment, until WiMAX MIDs and phones are widely available. Neo-Sky foresees VoIP deployment by the close of Q4 2009.

WiMAX VoIP faces impediments in its path of proliferation. In some countries like Lebanon and South Korea, the regulatory environment does not permit VoIP over WiMAX, and it is unclear when this might change. Thus service providers like KT, Pesco Telecom, GDS and others cannot make any firm plans until a legal framework is ready.

VoIP will bring a positive effect to mobile WiMAX as a value-added service. Since mobile WiMAX is an Internet-centric service, mobile VoIP will be an added application of wireless broadband.

The vendor community sees a great market opportunity in VoIP over WiMAX. Infrastructure, terminal and chipset vendors are already foraying into this market. Vendors like Alianza, Veraz Networks, Sonus Networks and others are currently very active in VoIP over WiMAX space; however while Alianza today can boast of a healthy customer list, Veraz and Sonus have but ONEMAX and Wateen Telecom as their prominent VoIP over WiMAX customers.

S. No.	WiMAX operator	Country	VoIP over WiMAX Status	VoIP Platform
1.	Altitude Telecom	France	Commercial	Thomson Cirpack
2.	Dialog Broadband	Srilanka	Commercial	Broadsoft
3.	DigitalBridge Communications	USA	Commercial	Alianza
4.	ONEMAX	Dominican Republic	Commercial	Veraz Networks
5.	Telkom	South Africa	Commercial	Nokia Siemens
6.	Wateen Telecom	Pakistan	Commercial	Sonus Networks

Domestic rates are already quite low on GSM, but VoIP over WiMAX networks can be an attractive method for placing international calls from mobile devices. Telecoms as a whole has witnessed a shift from fixed to mobile, more than from PSTN to VoIP. The success for telephony is more dependent on user friendliness than on rates, since about 50% of the mobile calls are generated from a location where a PSTN telephone is already available. WiMAX coverage will likely be the largest challenge when it comes to VoIP.

For more information you can contact the author. Basharat@maravedis-bwa.com