No Strings Attached?

Unmetered broadband Internet access has the potential to change the lives of those subscribers who are lucky enough to get a connection. Internet surfers no longer have to lose sleep over the duration of their session, there is no logging on or off and, most importantly, navigating the global Internet is no longer a chore but a pleasure. In addition, broadband promises to facilitate a huge range of new services that can be accessed via the TV.

In short, as soon as the public catches on to the advantages on broadband – and also when content providers wake up to the potential money-spinning applications that its facilitates – a high bandwidth pipe into the house will be a ‘must-have’ for great swathes of Europe’s population.
And this is something that has not been lost on the various manufacturers of broadband connections. Each is gearing up for the anticipated explosion in demand and talking up the benefits and advantages of their respective technologies.

While DSL and cable modems have attempted to establish themselves in the public conscience as the two main contenders to provide the broadband link into the home, the slow roll out of each has eroded much of the public confidence in them and opened the door to another – less publicised – technology, broadband fixed wireless, which is beginning to establish a foothold.

Complementary

Unfortunately, however, it is not as simple as that. "Each of the options to bring broadband to the user are complementary services,” says Alan Menezes, vice president of marketing, Aperto Networks. “No one technology can offer total coverage. For instance, cable modems are predominately restricted to the residential market, DSL will not be economical to roll out to the entire population, and fixed wireless has limited deployment. However, fixed wireless can add subscribers rapidly, with same day service delivery," he says.

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Earlier this year, Aperto introduced a scaleable, point to multipoint ‘PacketWave’ family of base stations and subscriber units for 2.5, 3.5, 5.3 and 5.8GHz frequency bands for carrier networks worldwide. "The technology is now available for both line-of-sight and non line-of-site, via an optimised link which improves the usability of fixed wireless in densely populated areas," says Menezes.

However, says David Rimmington, director of strategy for Bulldog Communications – which is deploying a UK-based competitive local exchange carrier model based on DSL – the operating service levels and quality of service (QoS) are far higher with DSL because it is a straight connection to the phone exchange with guaranteed access.

Furthermore, he says, "Fixed Wireless is a proprietary technology, which ties users to one company. DSL, on the other hand, is a global standard. Many DSL vendors are fully-interoperable, thereby providing users with quality of service, cost advantages and a wider variety of services."

While on paper DSL may offer the superior broadband solution, in reality the public remains sceptical. According to research published in October 2001 by Rhetorik, ADSL broadband has yet to make any significant impact on the UK business market. The research reveals that less than two per cent of UK companies have installed DSL technology as their primary Internet connection. The reasons why DSL is failing to make a significant impact is a moot point, but the fact is that it’s not – leaving the market wide open to competitors.

Academic

One of the many criticisms levelled at DSL and cable modems is the time it takes for them to be deployed. By contrast, proponents of broadband fixed wireless say that their systems can be up and running in days. Other’s still believe arguments relating to the relative merits of different broadband access technologies are largely academic.

"It is not so much a question of how long people will wait, but what applications they will need broadband connections for. Cable modems are, in fact, already available to many consumers across the UK via providers NTL and Telewest. The problem is the lack of available content and applications to drive the uptake of these broadband connections," says Greenwoods Communication’s Steve Foster.

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"So far, product technology has overtaken consumer demand – cable modems have been developed, but few people will buy them until they have a use for them. While they continue to use narrowband applications such as email, there is little justification for investing in broadband technologies. In fact, industry figures show that 70 per cent of Internet users still rely on dial-up connections," says Foster.

He continues: "It is now up to the content providers to develop content that will drive consumers to invest in new broadband technologies, and it is only then that we will see a sharp uptake in broadband connections, whether via fixed wireless link, cable modem or eventually DSL, " he says.
Furthermore, says Quallaby’s Mark Stancombe, it is not only the other broadband access technologies that suffer negative publicity, wireless’ reputation is also being tarnished. "Even today, Vodafone has announced that it does not believe 3G will be capable of the fast speeds touted in the industry, so again wireless is receiving negative press. The bottom line is that most of us now know someone who has a DSL connection and are most likely to go with it for convenience when we can get it,” he says.

Disagreement

Yet, Elliott Mueller, CEO of UK-based broadband fixed wireless operator, Tele2, disagrees. "Its evident that people aren't waiting for DSL. Businesses across the country are signing up for Tele2's fixed broadband wireless access and it's not surprising. It offers speeds of up to 2Mbps, the tariff begins at under 65 euros per month and it’s available now. Tele2 is providing the high speed Internet service that businesses have been crying out for and is currently expanding its service to many more regions in the UK - Tele2 is making Broadband Britain happen."

Nevertheless, broadband fixed wireless technology remains a contentious issue with many sceptics. "Broadband fixed wireless is a tempting idea, but I think there is a long road to travel before the general public understand that such a service is available. When Ionica – which offered a regular telephone service with a wireless local loop – failed in 1998, it was not that the technology wasn't up to the job. Rather, it was that too few people got the message – only 50,000 households signed up for the service," says Martyn Davies, European product manager for Eicon Networks.

Just marketing?

But it is not just the marketing efforts of broadband fixed wireless that need to be highly focused and clear, the sector needs to overcome its Achilles heal before the technology can become a truly viable broadband alternative – a point illustrated by RAD data communication’s UK MD, Grant Notman.

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"I am aware of the DSL market and the good it can do for my business, but the service is just not available in my area. So, I enquired about a radio link. This has not been as simple as I thought, as we are located in an area with trees. Essentially, this means that either we will need a very tall mast or that we will get a signal quality that may vary from good to no signal at all."

Undoubtedly, the debate over access methods will run and run, but a clear pattern appears to be emerging. While the general public will probably wait for a telemarketer to call them offering them either DSL or cable broadband, the business community, which is ever more dependent on fast online access, does not have that luxury.

It is, therefore, the small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs) – often referred to as the ‘backbone of the economy’ – that will propel broadband fixed wireless forward. Ultimately, however, this will mean that broadband fixed wireless will form the ‘backbone’ of broadband Europe, doesn’t it?

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