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WISPs
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WISPs
This page considers wireless internet service providers
(WISPs).
It covers -
introduction
Wireless internet access has been recurrently
touted as
- the
"wave of the future"
- a
solution for 'last mile' connectivity in suburban Australia
and urban centres overseas
- a
solution for connectivity to remote locations or other
places where there are geographical barriers or insufficient
demand for a connection via wire.
Most
attention has centred on access via ground-based short-range
stations - often using the same technology highlighted
in the preceding page about wireless hotspots. However,
some connectivity is provided by satellite and there have
been proposals, credible or otherwise, to use airships
or even low-flying aircraft.
In Australia most activity has involved the dominant telcos
and a handful of competing internet service providers
for upmarket consumers within a handful of metropolitan
areas (in particular central business districts) and venues
that attract consumers willing to pay a premium for secure
access (eg airports).
the industry
In advanced economies the industry is being driven by
four factors -
- support
by hardware and software providers for creation and
maintenance of hotspot networks and wireless ISPs, implicitly
in an effort to build the market and reinforce acceptance
of particular standards
- second-guessing
by established telephony operators and ISPs, with minor
investments in wireless ISPs and deployment of hotspots
in alliance with hotel or food service chains
- opportunistic
establishment of isolated hotspots - often on a free
access basis - by cybercafe owners
- creation
of global roaming alliances (eg between Azure in Australia
and US-based Boingo, Telstra and Germany's T-Mobile
and BT) that allow premium - ie commercial - customers
to seamlessly go online in locations across the globe.
in Australia and New Zealand
As at the beginning of 2004 there were an estimated
15 commercial providers in Australia, sharing some $500,000
revenue for upwards of three hundred 802.11-based wireless
internet access "primary locations (often encompassing
multiple wireless hotspots)" across Australia.
Commercial networks and providers of hotspot services
(eg offering hotels and restaurants a 'hotspot in a box'
turnkey solution) include -
Telstra
- the dominant fixed-line phone network operator, that
has gained attention for its acquisition of the SkyNet
Global start-up and alliance with McDonalds and Starbucks
Optus
- the number two telephony operator, with upwards of
100 spots as of early 2004
Azure
- established in 2001 and now a subsidiary of property
developer Hudson Conway. Azure's executive includes
the founder of high profile etailer dstore. In partnership
with iPrimus (and an alliance with Boingo) it offers
spots in the Melbourne CBD, St Kilda, South Yarra, Sydney
CBD, Brisbane, QLD Gold Coast, Sunshine Coast and Perth
Xone
- Sydney CBD, North Ryde, North Sydney, Paddington,
Brisbane, Melbourne CBD, Mawson Lakes
Wireless
ISPs offering connectivity for business and residential
customers include Telstra,
Optus
and
iBurst
(Personal Broadband Australia) - founded in 2001 with
support from Arraycomm, Ozemail and UTStarcom, and currently
offering wide area wireless connectivity in Sydney,
Brisbane, Gold Coast and Melbourne
Unwired
- providing full local loop services - initially in
Sydney - through radio spectrum licences in the 3.4-3.5GHz
band acquired at auction in 2000 (with additional licences
from Austar)
Big
Air - promoted as a wireless 'last mile' provider
of connectivity to multiple tenancy units buildings
(primarily in the inner city) - ie acting as an ISP
- and to cafes or other venues
bridging digital divides?
Wireless has been promoted as a mechanism for
bridging digital divides
in advanced, emerging and other economies.
In parts of Africa, Asia and Latin America - where wired
infrastructure is inadequate or unavailable and rollout
might be prohibitively expensive - wireless has sometimes
been greeted as a panacea that will solve intractable
education, economic, cultural and even regulatory problems.
It has been a major focus of the United Nations ICT Task
Force, Woprld Summit on the Information Society (WSIS)
and some private sector initiatives. Much of the planning
and associated writing is an often uneasy mix of technology
boosterism, academic grandstanding public sector funding,
with particular programs gaining media attention but unlikely
to deliver what end users would regard as appropriate
or sustainable outcomes.
For an overview see the UN/WII's The Wireless Internet
Opportunity for Developing Countries and the more
readily available Fact
Sheet Wireless Internet Opportunities for Underserved
Areas.
Questions about Africa are identified in Maria Neto's
2004 Networks for the Developing World: The Regulation
& Use of License Exempt Radio Bands in Africa (PDF).
For perspectives on China see Jonas Clausen's thesis Opportunities
for WLAN and WISP in China (PDF)
satellite
Access via satellite is essentially available
in two forms for individual consumers and most organisations.
The first uses a satellite dish for two-way (ie both upload
and download) data communications. The upload speed is
typically around 10% of the 500 kbps download speed (which
is around ten times faster than a standard telephone line
modem).
The second uses a mix of satellite and terrestrial infrastructure,
typically a dish for a down-link from the satellite and
a phone line, cable or even wi-fi/wi-max for the uplink.
In remote Australia - where distance, harsh environmental
conditions and low market demand make construction and
maintenance of wired infrastructure cost prohibitive -
satellite services have attracted attention as a cost-effective
solution (particularly when subsidised by the federal
and state/territory governments). One-way and two-way
satellite services are available through commercial providers.
The 1999 Digital Data Service Obligation (DDSO) - for
which Telstra is the nominated provider - requires a 64kbps
Integrated Services Digital Network (ISDN) service to
be made available to 96% of the population on request.
The other 4% of the population are covered by the Special
Digital Data Service Obligation, a satellite service that
features a rebate of up to 50% of the installation cost
(capped at $765) of one-way satellite internet access
equipment.
There is some subsidised two-way connectivity, primarily
to remote Indigenous communities. That connectivity is
typically through community telecentres.
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