The Hindu Business Line : BSNL adopts franchisee model for WiMax roll-out

New Delhi, March 9 Taking a leaf out of the Tata Teleservices-Virgin Mobile deal, State-owned Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd has decided to adopt the franchisee model for rolling out wireless broadband using WiMax technology.

BSNL has invited bids from prospective partners on a revenue-sharing basis.

BSNL wants to be the first to roll out wireless broadband on the 2.5-Ghz band. While private telecom companies have to bid for spectrum in this band, BSNL and MTNL will get automatic allocation. Broadband services on WiMax technology promise high-speed Internet access on laptops and mobile handsets.

Though WiMax-enabled mobile handsets are expensive at the moment, manufacturers such as Motorola are betting on a huge uptake which will bring the prices down.

Two-stage bidding

As per the expression of interest document floated by BSNL, the franchisee will be selected after a two-stage bidding process. The bidder shall submit both techno-commercial and financial bids at the initial stage.

Based on the evaluation of the techno-commercial bids, successful bidders will have to install one base station each in an urban and semi-urban area at their cost and risk and undergo a pre-qualifying test for conformity in range, capacity and throughput requirements.

BSNL has earmarked close to $750 million for its WiMax project. It has begun offering modem-based WiMax services for PC users.

It has chosen US-based SOMA Networks to roll out WiMax across three States — Gujarat, Maharashtra and Andhra Pradesh.

“This project confirms our view that the potential for WiMax is mainly in emerging countries where wired infrastructure is poor or even non-existent, and where fixed broadband penetration is consequently very low.

In such markets, wireless solutions represent the only economic alternative to deliver broadband services to the mass market. This explains our forecast that 46 per cent of WiMax users in 2011 will be located in the Asia-Pacific region,” said an analyst’s report from OVUM.

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