Technology wars: 3G vs WiMax

Abstract

Service operators face some tough decisions as they witness a rising demand for “anywhere, anytime” broadband access. They sense that there is a real business opportunity to provide a substantial increase to the all-important average revenue per user (ARPU). However, when considering the implementation aspect, service providers find the technological landscape dotted with options, trends, and hype. Many technologies, backed by strong vendors and consortiums are vying for the service providers’ attention. In addition, many vendors, having invested considerable amount of resources and money in the different technologies, are loudly promoting their respective technologies. Through this project we examine the different technological options facing a service provider considering deploying a personal, mobile, broadband access network. It provides a high level comparison of commonalities and differences of these various technologies. It focuses on high capacity technologies comparing WiMAX technology and the different 3G options. In the Indian context, through our study and analysis we show that: (i) The Cost of setting up a BrownField 3G is less than Greenfield WiMax which in turn is less than GreenField 3G. :Brownfield 3G < GreenField WiMax < Greenfield 3G. (ii) Data Services offered by WiMax have to be markedly superior compared to 3G in order to justify any investments in it compared to WiMax considering the same ARPU from a user. (iii) Value Added Services offered by WiMax has to be markedly superior compared to 3G to earn the significant higher ARPU.