Pune leads country towards Wi-Fi age with WiMax - Financial Express

Pune leads country towards Wi-Fi age with WiMax - Financial Express
[http://hcilondon.net/hciserv/NewsIndex?source=newsdetails&NewsCode=5375]
03-04-2007
Print this page


PUNE, APR 2: Pune became India’s first wireless city on Monday when Intel Technology Pvt Ltd, Pune Municipal Corp (PMC) and Microsense joined hands to commercially roll out the first phase of a 802.16d Wi-Fi and WiMax network in the city. The first phase of the ‘Unwire Pune’ project deployment would provide wireless connectivity in a 25 sq km expanse of the city. “After the completion of the first phase, in around four months, Pune Municipal Corp is planning to make services commercially available to citizens at a cost of Rs 250 offering a speed of 256 kbps,” Nitin Kareer, PMC commissioner said. Intel India has been the chief technology and programme management consultant by PMC while Microsense would roll out the network to offer broadband wireless services. The rest of the city would be covered in the next 12-16 months. Kareer said that internet access would be initially be offered to 30 odd municipal schools in the city.

R Siva Kumar, MD, Intel South Asia said that Intel has been talking to other cities including Bangalore, Ahmedabad and Nagpur, Mysore, Jaipur, Dehradun and Uttarakhand for similar projects. S Kailashnathan, MD, Microsense said that the central government had recently delicensed the 5.8 gh for outdoor use. Since the Pune project was being delayed owing to change in the Trai guidelines, he said the company would currently manage with available spectrum in the 3.3gh, 2.4gh in 2008. and 3.4gh and 5.8gh.“There is a need for additional spectrum in the proposed policy and other spectrum is in the process of being identified,” he said. The Pune project cost has been estimated at Rs 100 crore over the next couple of years for setting up the infrastructure. Siva Kumar said Intel would begin to roll out WiMax on laptops in 2008 and mobile devices a year after.