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Massive WiMax Network for India

Posted by CmdrTaco on from the well-bully-for-them-then dept.

An anonymous reader writes "Engadget reports that the largest Indian telecom company is planning to build a mobile WiMax network covering three states on the subcontinent capable of serving 250 million people. State-owned Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited is leaning on Soma Networks to build the broadband-speed network in response to government requirement that 20 million broadband lines be in service by 2010." Meanwhile I can't even get cable. Maybe it's time to move to India.

20 of 145 comments (clear)

  1. Tongue in cheek to the submitter by Dunbal · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Maybe it's time to move to India.

          Why not. Your job already has.

    --
    Seven puppies were harmed during the making of this post.
    1. Re:Tongue in cheek to the submitter by Alsn · · Score: 2, Insightful

      The first though that popped into my mind was instead the following:

      Maybe it's time to start a web based company such as a store or a downloading service in india... ;)

    2. Re:Tongue in cheek to the submitter by Dunbal · · Score: 2, Insightful

      It was a joke, silly, not a lament. I think India has come a LONG way in the past 20 years and I really hope that it fulfills its destiny as a major economic force in the world in the near future. I personally am anti-US or perhaps more specifically anti-Bush, and snigger every time the US has another finger slip from its tenuous position as the "world leader". But, yet again we have demonstrated that it's very difficult to effectively transmit sarcasm over the internet.

      --
      Seven puppies were harmed during the making of this post.
    3. Re:Tongue in cheek to the submitter by PaneerParantha · · Score: 3, Insightful
      That's false.

      And has been shown to be so many times over here.

      1. The latest example of a foreigner working in India is Mr. Gary Kirsten (http://content-usa.cricinfo.com/southafrica/content/player/45813.html), the Indian cricket coach. The two coaches before him were Australian and New Zealander respectively.

      2. Australian cricketers routinely accept advertising contracts (and in one case a movie role) in India.

      3. There are backpackers from Europe working in call-centers.

      Your statement is not grounded in facts at all.

    4. Re:Tongue in cheek to the submitter by stonewolf · · Score: 5, Interesting

      Well, I was one of those people doing high level design working in the R&D department of my company. I did a lot of research and design and a fair about of coding for the products we were developing.

      One day I came in and found out that all the US employees of the company were being laid off. The owners of the company had found a software company in India that they could just buy for nothing and moved *all* the work, including R&D, to India. I guess that is at least one data point against the idea that only the grunt work has moved to India.

      The first year I was unemployed I was able get a few interviews and some contract working running doing testing and one gig helping a company figure out how incompetent the US development staff was. (There are a lot of people all over the world who can write a program but are not qualified to design so much as a turd.)

      The second year there were fewer contract jobs and interviews.

      The third year I retrained as a teacher. After the third year the *only* company that has shown any interest in hiring me was an Indian company that was desperate enough for experienced people to offer to pay my relocation to India. After my kids are out of college my wife and I are seriously considering moving to India or China. I know a couple of people in my situation who are now living like kings pulling down what would be considered good US salaries, being paid in Euros, living in India and China.

      Now I make a good wage (for an Indian) teaching people in the US what "click and drag" means. Believe it or not, but a *huge* portion of the people graduating from high school in the US have never used a PC and are scared shitless of having to use one. An even bigger portion of people over thirty do not know what "click and drag" means.

      So, lets cut the crap about the quality of the jobs going to India. The only reason Indians aren't getting those jobs is that so many of them do not have the experience to do them. In India those jobs are being filled by Americans and Europeans with decades of experience. Not to mention the huge number of Indians and Chinese who went to school in the US and have worked here for decades who are now going back to start, run, or do high level work, in India and China.

      Stonewolf

    5. Re:Tongue in cheek to the submitter by Tablizer · · Score: 3, Interesting

      I think India has come a LONG way in the past 20 years and I really hope that it fulfills its destiny as a major economic force in the world in the near future.

      Me too. We need more strong democracies.

      I personally am anti-US or perhaps more specifically anti-Bush

      Keep in mind that half the US population can't stand Bush either. He has tricked the other half using simplistic logic and religious games. I'm sure India will have its share of nightmare politicians. Democracy sometimes burps loudly.

      and snigger every time the US has another finger slip from its tenuous position as the "world leader".

      Just be careful what you wish for. The US's foreign policy is dominated more by incompetence than an attempt at "taking over the world". However, a different super-power may want more of the second.

      But a strong India as a counter-weight to the US would be a nice thing. Who knows, if wages go up in India, then perhaps you will start outsourcing to us. Or, at least stuff will be more balanced out. It will be an interesting fusion of cultures.

      --
      Table-ized A.I.
    6. Re:Tongue in cheek to the submitter by mi · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Yes, because "freedom of speech" means something different in your country.

      Nope, "freedom of speech" means exactly the same here as it always has. You are free to proclaim your hatred, we are free to deny you entry.

      I enjoy free travel across borders (it's one of the human rights you know)

      No, it is not, unfortunately.

      don't want to be locked up on "terror" charges for speaking my mind.

      Has not happened to anyone yet — don't overestimate your importance. Even burning the flag (incredibly offensive and banned in many other countries) is still legal here...

      Meanwhile I'll just keep taking your money on Wall Street.

      You mean, you'll continue to participate in our markets? Great — we welcome all kind...

      --
      In Soviet Washington the swamp drains you.
  2. Like mobile phones by apathy+maybe · · Score: 5, Insightful

    There is a good reason for under-developed countries like India not to invest in cabling. It is the same reason why such countries have so many mobile phones as compared to landlines.

    Mobile phone towers are a lot cheaper to put up then running cables everywhere, they are a lot easier to upgrade, etc. (One reason why Japan and (West) Germany were able to do so well economically after WW2 was all the new equipment, all the old stuff having been bombed. Yes the money helped, but France got that money too...)

    Anyway, good oh.

    --
    I wank in the shower.
    1. Re:Like mobile phones by freedom_india · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Unfortunately mobile towers have the least redundancy in disaster times.
      All mobile towers have a 99% utilisation in india.
      It means if all the mobile users dial at the same time, you get a network busy tone. Heck i get a network busy tone about 30% of the time.
      During a storm the mobile network is the first to fail.

      Meanwhile the landline is the strongest network india has.
      If the power goes off, the generators in the exchanges run it for 24 hours, and even if they fail, the batteries keep them for another 14 hours.
      The generators are topped off with fuel almost weekly.

      The mobile towers run on batteries for 7 hours max. After that they start dropping off one by one.

      --
      "Doing what i can, with what i have." ~ Burt Gummer
    2. Re:Like mobile phones by __walk_the_talk · · Score: 2, Informative

      Your comment seems to imply that cabling is better than wireless.While this is certainly true for optic fibres,wireless will beat conventional copper twisted pair cabling hands down in many cases.The cost/capacity ratio is simply too skewed in favour of wireless,in India.And this has nothing to do with India being "under-developed".This is simple engineering. Anyway,India has a significant investment in Optic Fiber channels.There are companies both in public and private sectors,that specialize in making optic links,as well as the associated electronics. Our telephone network sucked big time around the beginning of the 1980's,with poor connectivity and very very bad voice quality.That was the time when optic fibre came into the market in a big way.The expanding indian landline sector embraced it ,and as a result we have surplus capacity on all our optic links today. The bigger issue in India,so far as cabling goes,is the digging up of roads and getting government permissions.It is such a big hassle ,that most private operators have laid down many times(typically 10-15) the capacity they need. The base stations are connected by fibre optic rings.Wireless is only for the "last mile" link.That being the case,concerns expressed about spectrum exhaustion seem to be misplaced.You have to remember that there are no tall structures in Indian villages.A strategically located base station has a much larger footprint in such conditions.Propogation is essentially free space(until it hits the tree canopies), with the associated low attentuation and superior quality for much lower investment.

  3. Meanwhile... by dcollins · · Score: 4, Funny

    "Meanwhile I can't even get cable. Maybe it's time to move to India."

    Dude, the free market solves all problems. Didn't you get the memo?

    --
    We know where leadership by an anti-intellectual "strongman" who scapegoats minorities and likes boisterous rallies goes
    1. Re:Meanwhile... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Insightful

      XOHM (www.xohm.com) is coming *very* soon and will offer WiMAX across the US. Our WiMAX buildout will be complete long before India's is. Many parts of the network are already operational and many active (non-commercial) users are on the network today. Performance is also VERY good, better than advertised.

  4. Not the first one though by NakNomik · · Score: 2, Interesting

    The largest private company in India (Reliance) has soft-launched WiMax for consumers in some parts of Bangalore... and a quick search on Google reveals users are not very happy. SIFY, Aircel and VSNL already offer WiMax for corporate customers in some parts of the country..
    More here

    --
    Unix is simple. It just takes a genius to understand its simplicity. -Dennis Ritchie
  5. 3G might be winning out rather than WiMax in India by ScorpFromHell · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Computer penetration is not as good as mobiles in India. Also a 3g mobile is far cheaper (~ $200) than a computer (~ $300).

    The common man is more comfortable with using a mobile than a computer.

    If enough mobile apps are made available for most of the stuff that the common man requires it might be possible that 3g phones win over the wimax connected phones.

    In addition to the apps like feed readers, gmail, google maps, browsers, there need to be applications that can enable the common man to bank, pay bills, shop, get weather updates (atleast warnings), get various examination results (believe it or not, this is a big business for small time entrepreneurs in the rural districts), make bookings in trains, buses, etc.

    --
    -- Prem
    Aiming to tweet on a rice ... help me find the write pen!
  6. Re:Which three states? by oook_in · · Score: 4, Informative

    Looks like it's Maharashtra, Gujarat and Andhra Pradesh. This article also mentions that the roll out is supposed to happen by 2010. The weird thing is that the city of Mumbai in Maharashtra is serviced by another telecom company MTNL and not BSNL. I wonder if it will be covered by this WiMax network.

  7. India had wireless long ago ! by kicks-ass · · Score: 4, Funny

    The Russians dug 1000 ft in the ground and found copper wire, They declared Russians had electricity 1000 years back US dug and found Optical fibre, and said US had telepphone 2000 years back Indians dug, found nothing, Then said we had wireless communication technology 5000 years back

  8. Re:Wimax or infrastructure by superash · · Score: 4, Insightful

    This is exactly the kind of bullshit that I cannot take. Your sister comes to India and expects everything here to be like USA(going by your contact info at your homepage)? Would you have taken the same kind of comment from me if I was in the US and was asking for something that we Indians did over here? You would've have said -" If you want that then stay the fuck in your country". So, you get my point.

  9. Re:Wimax or infrastructure by the_masked_mallard · · Score: 2, Informative

    When in Rome ... etc etc http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anal_cleansing#Water FYI, I am Indian.

  10. Lobbyists Lobbyists Lobbyists by Tablizer · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Meanwhile companies back here in the US cry and sob that there are no ready-made senior-level employees for them to hire for rates far below the level that the self-created scarcity of such labor should command, since they shipped all the entry level positions overseas and can no longer find and promote their own talent from within.

    It's called "lobbying". The lobbyists paint a picture of poorly-educated Americans so that Congress etc. will let them offshore and get more visa workers who work more hours for less money. It's part of their plan and so far they are getting away with it because there is no coordinated counter-voice. Studies by respected organizations have repeated shown no general "sci/tech shortage". The bottom line: It's all a lie.

    --
    Table-ized A.I.
  11. Re:Wimax or infrastructure by jalfreize · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Recently, I came to the US as a grad student, and was shocked that the US has no running water in their toilets.
    They actually use pieces of paper!!!
    Thats soo lame, not to mention yucky!!! ughhh...