WiMAX pilot for city to roll out in January

WiMAX pilot for city to roll out in January
S Kushala | TNN

Bangalore: The much delayed ‘Bangalore Unwired’ project may finally be seeing some progress. The state government now says that in another 20 months, the city will be unwired with its 741 sqkm coming under the Worldwide Inter-operability for Microwave Access (WiMAX) technology.
The first leg of the project, a 3.5 sqkm stretch in the city centre, will be rolled out between January 14 and 22. Project executor Chennai firm Microsense is ready with the pilot which will stretch from Mallya Circle to Trinity Church.
“The base station is ready on MG Road. Work on connecting the entire city will be taken up in phases. The state will not make any investment. It will be entirely done by the service provider who will later recover it through subscriptions,’’ IT secretary M N Vidyashankar told TOI.
The project is expected to enable IT and ITeS professionals who spend a lot of time commuting in the city, to connect to the internet and work while on the road, thereby increasing productivity.
The latest standard in WiMAX, IEEE 802.16e, is being used.
The connectivity speed will range from 512 mbps to 2 gbps.
Subscriptions will be based on usage and slabs may be designed on the lines of mobile phone packages.
The start-up packages will be from Rs 1,000 per month, Vidyashankar said.
The facility can be used on a laptop as well as desktop computers.
The second leg of connectivity will be the IT-belt from Electronic City to Whitefield, and the third stretch from Electronic City towards Bangalore South.
WIMAX FEATURES
Provides anytime-anywhere net connectivity
Subscription needed
First leg in January covers 3.5 sqkm