WiMAX will bring real benefits

ADSL South Africa (Broadband South Africa), 2 April 2007

One can’t help to smile about the real benefits the commercial launch of WiMax will bring to thousands of South Africans. This is the case if we can believe MWEB and Internet Solution’s (IS) take on the potential of WiMax to bring sunshine in our lives.
 
It’s no secret that ‘…Telkom has recently announced that they have launched an external broadband customer trial using WiMax,’ and that ‘…this trial is run in collaboration with Internet Service Providers MWEB, IS and TelkomInternet’ (MWEB and IS optimistic about WiMax possibilities, MyADSL, 29 March 2007).
 
What is WiMax?
 
No, WiMax it’s not a question one asks to a naughty gorilla in the zoo… please check out our WiMax page for more details. :-)
 
Why all the optimism about the possibilities of WiMax in South Africa?
 
Both MWEB and IS are very optimistic about WiMax’s potential. A list of potential benefits looks something like this:

• Increase in broadband growth - “Currently we feel that the delays in installing ADSL lines have hampered growth considerably, and with this no longer being an issue, we should immediately see an increase in growth. Added to that, we now have the ability to target areas that don’t have Telkom fixed line infrastructure” (MWEB and IS optimistic about WiMax possibilities, MyADSL, 29 March 2007). This is according to MWEB.
   
  ‘Long ADSL installation times are often cited as the reason for consumers opting for other broadband services like iBurst or HSDPA, and the launch of WiMax may result in a faster broadband growth and more customers for both Telkom and their reseller partners’ (MWEB and IS optimistic about WiMax possibilities, MyADSL, 29 March 2007).
   
  In other words, less hassle can be expected with WiMax, resulting in an increase in broadband growth, because many people will prefer WiMax to an ADSL broadband connection, and all the problems associated with getting such a connection.

• Resolve last mile connectivity issues, et cetera  – According to IS ‘…the installation is not always simple, however it doesn’t have the issues of cable theft or quality of copper that currently hound a number of ADSL users. We believe that WiMax will help revolutionise last mile connectivity, and bring services to consumer and SME alike as well as offer last mile replacement services for Corporate SA” (MWEB and IS optimistic about WiMax possibilities, MyADSL, 29 March 2007).
   
  In other words, last mile connectivity issues such as problems with cable theft will be resolved and WiMax will also bring services and replacement services to a wide audience. 

Can any possible drawbacks be expected that might negatively impact on the success of the current trial?
 
Yes.
 
“IS anticipate a large uptake of the WiMax service in the longer term, the trail however is dependent on Telkom’s roll-out of their WiMax service” (MWEB and IS optimistic about WiMax possibilities, MyADSL, 29 March 2007). Also, “…during the test phase, Telkom will be supplying the WiMax service to the customers as the last mile portion, and Internet Solutions will provide the users with accounts to make use of IS’ own bandwidth, thereby testing IS bandwidth across their last mile Telkom WiMax service” (MWEB and IS optimistic about WiMax possibilities, MyADSL, 29 March 2007).
 
In other words, the success of the WiMax trial is too a large extent dependent on Telkom’s ability to deliver.
 
ADSL South Africa (Broadband South Africa) welcomes all efforts to bring South Africans an even better broadband experience. Like MWEB and IS, we also believe in the potential of WiMax to help change things for the better.