THE first deployments of WiMax wireless broadband networks in Singapore are widely expected this year as companies push to fulfill the government's vision of ubiquitous wireless Internet access.

However, there is a growing feeling among industry watchers that the relative delay in deployment of mobile WiMax, in comparison with competing technologies, may come with a cost.

Operators who opt for this technology may find themselves at a disadvantage, feels Nathan Burley, an analyst with Ovum, a consulting firm specialising in telcom, IT and software research. WiMax deployments are being readied by Pacific Internet (PacNet) and QMax Communications, among others.

The wireless technologies competing with WiMax are mesh WiFi and an enhanced version of the 3G network known as HSDPA (high speed downlink packet access). HSDPA is going to evolve, by the end of this year, into what is known as HSPA (high speed packet access), incorporating both HSDPA and HSUPA (high speed uplink packet access), the latter a relatively newer technology which improves on 3G's inherent weakness in uplinking capabilities.

In Singapore, mesh WiFi networks are being set up by companies like Singapore Telecommunications (SingTel), iCell Network and QMax as part of the Wireless@SG initiative. Meanwhile, the three existing telcos are ready with their HSPA networks with M1 already commercially deploying services.

As a result, users are more likely to opt for these ready networks, rather than wait for mobile WiMax networks to be set up, Mr Burley told BizIT.

'PacNet will probably target some sort of corporate market, while QMax could use WiMax potentially for a more premium service on top of their mesh WiFi network,' Mr Burley noted.

Telco operators BizIT spoke to were, however, more cautious in their assessment.

M1 CEO Neil Montefiore said the three technologies differ in their capabilities and performance and hence are not really competing. He, however, agreed with Mr Burley's assessment that an operator setting up a brand new mobile WiMax network would face a lot of problems.

'Mobile WiMax is still undergoing its final standardisation and any operator deploying it will experience the disadvantages associated with a new network roll-out, such as cost and lack of supporting devices,' Mr Montefiore noted.

Offering a different perspective, PacNet's CEO, Phey Teck Moh, said while HSDPA rides on mobile cellular networks and enjoys greater coverage advantage, its download speed is compromised and this means that data transfers are not similarly fast.

'While initial (network) coverage for WiMax may not be as good, WiMax already offers superior download throughput performance per user, per sector . . . Mesh WiFi is solely an outdoor solution that cannot address nomadic or portable needs, and neither can it provide ubiquitous coverage, including indoor coverage,' Mr Phey said.

The PacNet boss added that the issues operators will be looking at are how to meet the needs for mobility through HSDPA and WiMax since such technologies offer different operational advantages and will impact deployment differently.

'The differences between the technologies will mean that there will be some degree of diversity in available technologies, all fulfilling different users' needs . . . While the technologies appear to be in competition, they actually complement each other in delivering different types of services,' Mr Phey added.

StarHub's head of integrated products and marketing, Mike Reynolds, said: 'While HSDPA and its successors look poised to be the primary means of providing ubiquitous wireless access, only time can tell if WiMax will become another major technology used to deliver wireless broadband access in Singapore.'

However, Mr Reynolds added that while HSDPA is the first mass-market technology, StarHub is monitoring the developments of alternatives like WiMax 'that could potentially offer better economics and performance to customers'.

M1's Mr Montefiore pointed out that the cost of a HSPA network will be significantly lower than a comparable mesh WiFi or 'mobile' WiMax network due to the fact that HSPA is an evolution of 3G and will involve mainly software upgrades for most 3G operators around the world.

'In addition, as HSDPA and HSUPA become embedded in mobile phones, the cost of terminal devices will also moderate significantly because of economies of scale.,' Mr Montefiore added.

A SingTel spokesman said the company's HSDPA offering, called Broadband on Mobile, will allow 'SingTel to extend the full power and benefits of the Internet . . . to the Wireless@SG hotspots (it will provide 2,4000 hotspots by May) and any location covered by our mobile network'.

Ovum's Mr Burley said one of the biggest things going for WiMax is the strong industry and vendor support, with notable influence from Intel. 'It has invested more than US$1 billion in promoting and marketing WiMax globally,' Mr Burley noted.

Moreover Intel has said it would put WiMax on their Centrino mobile chips along with the standard WiFi antenna. 'The first such chips will appear by the end of this year while the laptops with such chips embedded will appear next year . . . So it is only late next year and early 2009 when you will see a ramp up of such laptops,' Mr Burley said.

The HSDPA camp has not been sitting idle all this while. According to him, as many as 72 different laptop models in the market, from 10 computer makers, have 3G connectivity embedded in them.

One final point made by Mr Burley is that when all three technologies are up and running in Singapore in early 2008 or late this year there is likely to be a shake-up in Singapore's broadband market place, both in wire line and wireless. 'Free mesh WiFi connections and WiMax could churn up the market place,' he said.

This article first appeared in BT on January 08, 2007