I had an interesting call with Rizwan Tiwana, the CTO of Wateen, a large competitive operator which recently rolled out a 802.16E WiMAX network spanning 22 major cities across the nation of Pakistan. I was looking forward the call because Wateen sits at the bleeding edge of two next generation service and access network technologies, WiMAX and IMS. Wateen also represents one of a small handful of operators with the combination of both technologies in commerical operation.
As of today, there are approximately 25K Wateen subscribers who are using their WiMAX connections for both Internet connectivity and voice services. That voice services are served up over an IMS control plane is a watershed moment for an industry that has seen some negative press on the viabilty of delivering voice over IP services over WiMAX. So far, so good for Wateen and its WiMAX partner Motorola. They are excited about ramping up the subscriber base even quicker when the next generation of CPE devices become available in the next half year.
I inquired as to what has made them successful and Mr. Tiwana boiled it down to this; setting realistic expectations and thorough network design and testing. As he succinctly puts it…”WiMAX is not GSM or CDMA, you can’t just throw up towers and expect blanket coverage.” Instead, they have taken pains to educate their users on what to expect in terms of coverage and ensure their sales channels also set realistic expectations in the market. Its good to see a success story like this for WiMAX and IMS and I hope Sprint/Clearwire are paying attention.
Filed under: Anywhere Network, Uncategorized |
Tariq
July 1st, 2008 - 10:30 am
have a look at some of the blogs you will get the real picture from the real subscriber of wateen and its pathetic wimax service.
let me put it this way
if they have 100 users
only one is happy
why only one is happy because he never have time to use it for more then 5min just to check email
period.
Haji Ghulam Mohammad Memon
October 3rd, 2008 - 9:47 pm
To
The Concern,
The Mobilink, Ufone, Telenor, Warid, Zong, V Wireless
PAKISTAN.
SUBJECT: APPLICATION FOR INSTALLATION OF MOBILE PHONE TOWERS.
Respected Sir,
This is to inform you that we want to install Mobile Booster/Mobile Tower /Wireless Tower. We have four places in Sindh. Our house consisting of single story residential house at my village Lakha Distt: Dadu and pilot. Two are in village of Lakha, Distt: Dadu and two are in near Hyderabad Bypass at Super Highway, in Gulshan-e-Shehbaz Hyderabad. One pilot and one Quarter, This is most suitable location for your Mobile/Wireless Booster installation. if you have any chance to implant the Booster of Mobilink, Ufone, Telenor, Warid, Zong, V Wireless, we provide four these places for reasonable rent.
Kindly send your Survey Team for inspection and give us a chance to be apart of your business. Your Co-operation will highly appreciate.
Thank you.
Name of Contact Person: Haji Ghulam Mohammad Memon.
Contact Nos 03463905382.
03223113002
(022)3014678
Contact information E mail: hajighulammohammadmemon@yahoo.com
Postal Address of Contact Person: H.No.C-37, State Life Housing Society
Opp: WAPDA Grid Station, Qasimabad,
Hyderabad, Sindh.
