Thursday January 13, 2005

Broadband: Wireless is no silver bullet
BY EDWIN YAPP

EVERY so often, technology journalists get to witness good news that brings cheer to the country. 

For instance, Internet service provider (ISP) Jaring officially launching its wireless broadband service, targeted at consumers and businesses, on Dec 11 last year. 

The company was first given the nod to run a wireless broadband network last July, and chose US-based Soma Networks Inc as its infrastructure partner. 

The launch was indeed a significant milestone – not merely because Malaysia’s first and oldest ISP can finally provide broadband services to the masses, after more than a decade of providing dialup Internet connections – but because now another ISP has made its foray into broadband service provision. 

Malaysians first experienced broadband surfing in 2001 when TM Net Sdn Bhd rolled out its streamyx service via ADSL (Asymmetric Digital Subscriber Line) to consumers. 

Last May, Time dotCom Bhd became the second service provider to launch broadband services, which it did with its wireless solution called Webbit, but only for selected areas in Petaling Jaya. 

TM Net now has 270,000 broadband subscribers, while Time dotCom has garnered about 1,300 subscribers. 

This puts the broadband penetration rate at approximately 1% of the population, according to industry regulator the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC). 

Despite this, the Government has expressed disappointment in the broadband take-up rate. 

Reiterating his stand on the matter, Energy, Water and Communications Minister Datuk Seri Dr Lim Keng Yaik recently said that the country’s broadband penetration rate leaves a lot to be desired. 

“We have a miserable 0.85% broadband penetration rate, compared with 5.5% in Singapore, 3.1% in Australia, 14.6% in Hong Kong and about 22% in South Korea. 

“This is shameful,” he said. 

Wireless to the rescue
The Government regards wireless broadband as a supplementary technology that could help drive broadband take-up (see In.Tech, May 6, 2004), but certain realities must be laid out before anyone gets the idea that it will save the day. 

For starters, although the chief advantage being touted is that subscribers can get hooked up almost immediately after subscribing to the service, the truth is far from that.  

This claim only holds true if you’ve got wireless coverage in the first place. In any wireless system, the service is only as good as its coverage; and coverage expansion can be a thorny issue because there are often problems associated with site and land acquisition for transmission towers in urban areas. 

Jaring plans to launch its service in “significant parts” of the Klang Valley, including Shah Alam, Klang and Damansara in Petaling Jaya, by this month, after which services will be extended nationwide. 

This is easier said that done. Just take a close look at Time dotCom’s experiences with Webbit. 

According to a Time dotCom spokesman, while its initial plan to roll out Webbit to the rest of Klang Valley and other major cities and towns in Malaysia remains, there has been some “schedule change in view of the latest technological developments in the industry.” 

Hence, parts of the Klang Valley still do not have Webbit service; contrary to what the company promised when it first launched Webbit last May. 

Thus, coverage expansion must surely be Jaring’s chief concern as it seeks to build up its network as quickly as possible in the coming months. Failing to roll out network coverage quickly will surely dampen potential subscribers’ enthusiasm. 

Then there is the issue of the service quality. Any RF (radio frequency) system will always be susceptible to variations in environmental conditions, such as foliage scatter, blockage from terrain and buildings, and transmission loss due to diffraction and reflection. 

What this means in practice is that, if the network is not designed and implemented properly, these factors could affect transmission speeds as well as service reliability. 

And today’s increasingly demanding subscribers will only give service providers one chance to deliver a high quality, always available and easy-to-use service. Should Jaring’s wireless services not measure up to consumers’ expectation, take-up rate will be affected. 

Content is king
The above are merely the technical challenges. What about the non-technical ones? 

One issue foremost on my mind is content (or the lack thereof) for the broadband user. 

Broadband may initially excite former dialup users because they can experience the increase in raw download and upload speeds. But just as how the rush after a rollercoaster ride often fades, speed alone will not sustain consumer interest. 

Content and applications must be compelling enough to keep users coming back for more, and they should have a broad reach inspiring everybody – not just the tech-savvy – to hook on to the Net. 

You can’t just build it, and hope they will come, and more importantly, stay on. 

Still, Jaring CEO Mohamed Awang Lah is confident that his company’s broadband service would be well accepted by consumers. 

“Based on global trends, we estimate that 30% of Malaysian subscribers are ready to convert from dialup to high-speed, broadband access,” he told reporters at Jaring’s wireless broadband launch. 

Jaring does have one thing going for it – the fact that it’s bundling free VoIP (Voice-over-Internet Protocol) telephony with its service. 

This, to me, would be a compelling reason why anyone would want to subscribe to a broadband connection, especially after experiencing phenomenal VoIP services such as Skype. 

IMHO, the need to communicate at reduced costs may just be that elusive “killer app” for the broadband world. 

It remains to be seen if Jaring can do what it claims. I, for one, will be rooting for its success, because if Jaring can hit the right chords, it may just unleash a chain reaction that will spur broadband take-up and make all parties – consumers, service providers and policymakers – happy.