Bully
07-10-2003, 09:27 PM
A WIRELESS broadband network that costs about the same as ADSL and can work from almost anywhere in Australia sounds almost too good to be true, doesn't it? Since last November, Personal Broadband Australia (PBBA) has been testing its wireless broadband technology with 400 users in Sydney, in partnership with OzEmail, which has supplied consumer testers, and Vodafone, which has offered up some of its corporate partners.
According to PBBA chief executive Charles Reed, trial results across 10 base stations have been "spectacularly successful".
That the service was launched at all is due to a quirk of history. When the 1.9MHz 3G band was being auctioned in Australia in 2001, paired and unpaired frequencies were sold off separately, a practice few other countries followed.
PBBA (then known as CKW Wireless) acquired the unpaired rights over 15 years for $9.5 million, and has since been building up the partnerships and infrastructure needed for a commercial high-speed service.
Early next year, the retail launch of the PBBA product, which will be wholesaled by the company to existing telcos, ISPs and resellers, will demonstrate whether that approach has worked.
PBBA is prepared for some scepticism. "One of the things we have to prove to the public and the industry is that this is a carrier-grade service," Reed says.
Theoretically, the iBurst technology being used by PBBA (and developed by one of its investors, US equipment manufacturer ArrayComm) is capable of speeds up to 10Mbps.
However, Reed says, a speed of just 1Mbps is fast enough for most people, and offering a higher speed would make the service more expensive.
"Most applications do not use more than 200Kbps," he says.
Reed won't discuss pricing in detail, as PBBA is currently negotiating with wholesalers, but suggests that a similar model to that used for DSL -- a base monthly charge plus download fees for excess capacity -- will apply.
Costs are thus likely to be around the $100 a month mark, with a premium for the PC Card version of the service that will be available on notebooks.
That still works out considerably cheaper than existing GPRS or GSM-based data services.
One challenge with any wireless network is ensuring performance in difficult locations, such as in hilly areas or large, heavily insulated buildings.
Reed says this may sometimes be an issue, but there have been few reports of problems during the trial.
Range has been surprisingly good.
Customers in the Sydney suburb of St Ives, located 12km away from the nearest base station, have still managed to achieve connections at up to 600Kbps, he says.
PBBA is predicting its early adopters will include customers in broadband "ghettoes", who can't access either ADSL or cable services, as well as business users who don't want to pay every time they log into the nearest wireless hotspot.
While Reed visualises the service being used by both corporates and consumers, the initial group of locations being used for trials in Sydney -- Martin Place, Hyde Park, Chatswood, St Leonards, Neutral Bay and Randwick -- points clearly to a business audience.
Additional coverage in Sydney, and roll-outs in Melbourne and then other cities are expected to follow next year.
PBBA estimates the total audience for its current Sydney network at about 1 million people, and says its spectrum rights will give it access to 14 million Australians.
Base stations for the trials have been located in existing Vodafone towers, and Reed hopes this pattern of partnering with telcos will continue.
"My plan is not to build a single tower," he says.
According to PBBA chief executive Charles Reed, trial results across 10 base stations have been "spectacularly successful".
That the service was launched at all is due to a quirk of history. When the 1.9MHz 3G band was being auctioned in Australia in 2001, paired and unpaired frequencies were sold off separately, a practice few other countries followed.
PBBA (then known as CKW Wireless) acquired the unpaired rights over 15 years for $9.5 million, and has since been building up the partnerships and infrastructure needed for a commercial high-speed service.
Early next year, the retail launch of the PBBA product, which will be wholesaled by the company to existing telcos, ISPs and resellers, will demonstrate whether that approach has worked.
PBBA is prepared for some scepticism. "One of the things we have to prove to the public and the industry is that this is a carrier-grade service," Reed says.
Theoretically, the iBurst technology being used by PBBA (and developed by one of its investors, US equipment manufacturer ArrayComm) is capable of speeds up to 10Mbps.
However, Reed says, a speed of just 1Mbps is fast enough for most people, and offering a higher speed would make the service more expensive.
"Most applications do not use more than 200Kbps," he says.
Reed won't discuss pricing in detail, as PBBA is currently negotiating with wholesalers, but suggests that a similar model to that used for DSL -- a base monthly charge plus download fees for excess capacity -- will apply.
Costs are thus likely to be around the $100 a month mark, with a premium for the PC Card version of the service that will be available on notebooks.
That still works out considerably cheaper than existing GPRS or GSM-based data services.
One challenge with any wireless network is ensuring performance in difficult locations, such as in hilly areas or large, heavily insulated buildings.
Reed says this may sometimes be an issue, but there have been few reports of problems during the trial.
Range has been surprisingly good.
Customers in the Sydney suburb of St Ives, located 12km away from the nearest base station, have still managed to achieve connections at up to 600Kbps, he says.
PBBA is predicting its early adopters will include customers in broadband "ghettoes", who can't access either ADSL or cable services, as well as business users who don't want to pay every time they log into the nearest wireless hotspot.
While Reed visualises the service being used by both corporates and consumers, the initial group of locations being used for trials in Sydney -- Martin Place, Hyde Park, Chatswood, St Leonards, Neutral Bay and Randwick -- points clearly to a business audience.
Additional coverage in Sydney, and roll-outs in Melbourne and then other cities are expected to follow next year.
PBBA estimates the total audience for its current Sydney network at about 1 million people, and says its spectrum rights will give it access to 14 million Australians.
Base stations for the trials have been located in existing Vodafone towers, and Reed hopes this pattern of partnering with telcos will continue.
"My plan is not to build a single tower," he says.