Broadcasters engaging the obvious are missing the obvious

WiMAX (Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access) might be described as WiFi on steroids. It’s stronger, faster, smarter. WiMAX enabled devices can receive and send broadband internet, including VoIP (Voice over Internet Protocol), over far greater distances. WiFi is quite cool but its range is limited to about 300 meters and so is the data transfer rate. WiMAX has a 10km range, about the same as a 5kW FM transmitter, and can move ‘multiple data packets’ – a whole lot of 1’s and 0’s – up to 70 Mbps. That won’t get you an instant movie but it will deliver real-time audio and telephone service. You see, WiMAX is bi-directional.

Shortly before the International Telecommunication Union’s (ITU) Radiocommunication Assembly went into deep and private contemplation about the state of spectrum, they added WiMAX to the list of approved mobile standards. (Read ITU statement here) Technical standards set out, in painful detail, all the little specifications of how something works. This is not light reading. When national telecom regulators look for cool things to do with spectrum, WiMAX is now certified as part of the 3G family of mobile standards, It is, as ITU says, good to go.

The significance was not lost on telecoms. If WiFi is threatening, WiMAX is horrifying. The end of collecting cash for ‘the last mile’ is in sight. The city of Geneva proposed free WiFi HotSpots in the municipal parks. SwissCom objected... and won.

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A few weeks ago I was in a city several hours by train from Geneva for a nice meeting. After a quick bite – train food is almost as bad as airplane food – I delivered myself to the train station to find that I had dawdled over that beer and brat a bit too long, missed the connection and had a couple of hours to kill before I could get out of there. Not to worry, I just do a little work; meaning, find a WiFi connection.

So, credit card in hand expecting the usual €50 per half hour charge, I powered up the iMac. And, of course, I had several choices offered by the different telecoms. But, wait! There was a free one. The local gas and electric utility offered free WiFi in exchange for viewing a 60 second ad. I watched the ad. It was OK. I connected to their WiFi network. It was great. I put the credit card back into my pocket, grinning.

Thereupon, I had a revelation. What if a local radio station, television station or newspaper had offered the same service? It could be a full service package; local news, weather, traffic information, train schedules, a couple of Rolling Stones tunes, search engine, Skype.

Second revelation: Why is it mobile devices don’t work well (phones) or at all (WiFi) on the move?

WiMAX could be one of those highly touted digital benefits; a low-cost, widely available, high value broadband service-using spectrum vacated by analogue television. Pavlovian governments, through their national regulators, salivate as they approach spectrum auctions. EC Info Society and Media Commissioner Mrs. Viviane Reding endorsed, more or less, WiMAX in June as a means of bridging “the digital divide.” But, she continued, “…this would have to be done on the basis of the public interest. I do not believe that high stakes auctions in which only those with the deepest pockets can take part would be effective. We need to encourage investment and competition--we need cheap, wide-band services for all.”

”The situation is a little more complicated,” said the UK auctioneer/regulator, taking exception. “It is the organizations that have the business plans to make the most effective use of that spectrum and maximize revenues (that benefit) if we have an auction mechanism,” their spokesperson exclaimed, forgetting that Enron and WorldCom, too, had business plans.

Telecoms, telecom regulators, governments and consumers are abundantly clear about the benefit of a technology standard backed by every stakeholder. In the late 1980’s Europe (largely) got behind a single mobile phone standard – GSM (Groupe Spécial Mobile). The result is a mobile phone (or two) in every pocket. Two billion people in 212 countries use GSM mobile phones. GSM is referred to as 2G (second generation) technology.

But 2G/GSM is old technology. Developers moved on to 3G (third generation) in the late 1990’s, just before the telecom/dot com crash. The far more efficient platform, often referred to as UMTS (Universal Mobile Telecommunications System), languished for lack of cash and a lack of interest. UMTS is better, faster, smarter and different. The handsets were chunky, battery life very short and email SMPT programs didn’t work. And telecoms needed to build new base stations. They also had to bid on spectrum, at auction, huge amounts. The German UMTS auction brought in over €50 billion for six licenses, two of which were later abandoned. Telecom interest in spectrum auctions languished thereafter, though governments wax romantic over the good ol’ days.

WiMAX is a step, not the first, to mobile internet technology at the same or better bit rates than ADSL. It has siblings – WiBro and HIPERMAN – with different though compatible advantages. 4G mobile standards are being written, dreamed of, but not deployed. While big ‘incumbent’ telecoms try to repackage old broadband delivery systems it’s the ‘disruptive’ companies like Clearwire in the US that simply take that leap into the future.

News from the US this week was not happy for WiMAX supporters. Number three US telecom Sprint Nextel and Clearwire effectively ended an agreement to jointly develop WiMAX networks across the country. Both will continue to roll-out WiMAX networks in individual cities, Clearwire (led notably by cell phone innovator Craig McCaw) taking the lead. But Sprint, with its own internal issues, will “concentrate on the core business.”

When tech standards discussions roam into the giga-tech-bit ether it is very easy to forget that devices are changing, too. Perhaps these changes are the most difficult to imagine. At a recent forum on digital radio one speaker offered the evolutionary thought that broadcasters should take a forward leap and visualize digital radio in other appliances, like alarm clocks or refrigerators. It is the same with laptops and PCs. Perhaps, too, consumers compartmentalize devices with applications. A phone is a phone. A television set is a television set. A PC is a PC. Maybe a phone isn’t a TV. Maybe a TV isn’t a PC.

For broadcasters and publishers racing along the ‘information superhighway’ in search of cash flow the rapidly developing mobile internet technology should be the answer to the last remaining question – Is there a future?

Swiss newspaper Blick launched three internet radio stations on its website this week. The forward thinking is about aggregation: provide whatever the customer wants, whenever and wherever they want it. It’s actually not such a new thought.

On November 12, 2007 Nick Piggott GCap Media Head of Creative Technologies UK wrote:

Broadcasters engaging the obvious are missing the obvious

Forget DAB, DMB, DRM and all the rest. WiMAX offers quadruple play – audio, video, data and telephony. It will cover an average sized city. It is not expensive, either for the networks or connection devices. You may draw a breath now. followup(0), comments(2)

Forget DAB, DMB, DRM and all the rest. WiMAX offers quadruple play – audio, video, data and telephony. It will cover an average sized city. It is not expensive, either for the networks or connection devices. You may draw a breath now.
followup(0), comments(2)