Indians may have to wait for a few more months. While Microsoft is moving
full throttle with the planned global launch of Tablet PC at the Ambassador
Theatre in New York on November 7, 2002, a small legal issue has put on hold the
OEM’s–HP, Toshiba, and Accer–plans of a simultaneous launch in the
country.
While OEM partners of this project declined to comment on the issue citing
"non disclosure agreement" as the reason, according to a senior
Microsoft India official, the Tablet PC motherboard has an inbuilt WiFi-based
wireless LAN card– aimed at ensuring true mobility of the product–that makes
it necessary for the vendor to get Dealer’s Possession License (DPL) before
the product can be introduced in the Indian market. According to DoT norms, DPL
is mandatory for all vendors if they want to stock and trade in wireless
apparatus. While the official shrugged the matter as a non-issue and assured
that the product would definitely be out in the Indian market by December-end,
the small bit of information did raise a more serious issue. While the Federal
Communications Commission (FCC) and their counterparts across all major
countries have decided to keep the spectrum in the vicinity of 2.4 Ghz
unlicensed under the industrial, scientific and medical (ISM) band, why does
India Inc need a separate license for the use of 802.11-based products or
wireless LANs that operate in the same band?
The Wi-Fi Family |
Wi-Fi (802.11) refers to a family of specifications developed for wireless LAN and specifies over-the-air interface between a client and a base station, or between clients. The specification, accepted in 1997, has several modes: |
802.11: This applies to wireless LANs and provides 1 or 2 Mbps transmission in the 2.4 GHz band using either frequency hopping spread spectrum (FHSS) or direct sequence spread spectrum (DSSS). |
802.11a: This is an extension to 802.11 that applies to wireless LANs and provides up to 54 Mbps in the 5GHz band. It uses an orthogonal frequency division multiplexing encoding scheme rather than FHSS or DSSS. |
802.11b: Also referred to as 802.11 high rate or Wi-Fi, this is an extension to 802.11 that applies to wireless LANs and provides 11 Mbps transmission (with a fallback to 5.5, 2 and 1 Mbps) in the 2.4 GHz band. It uses only DSSS and is a 1999 ratification to the original 802.11 standard, allowing wireless functionality comparable to Ethernet. |
802.11g: It applies to wireless LANs and provides 20+ Mbps in the 2.4 GHz band. |
The Wi-Fi factor
Short for wireless fidelity, the term WiFi has been promulgated by the
alliance of leading wireless equipment and software providers with the missions
of certifying all 802.11-based products for interoperability and promoting the
term Wi-Fi as the global brand name across all markets for any 802.11-based
wireless LAN products. While all 802.11a/b/g products are called Wi-Fi, only
products that have passed the Wi-Fi Alliance testing are allowed to refer to
their products as "Wi-Fi Certified". All "Wi-Fi Certified"
products also need to indicate the radio frequency band used–2.5GHz for
802.11b or 11g and 5GHz for 802.11a.
Earlier the alliance was known as the Wireless Ethernet Compatibility
Alliance (WECA) but changed its name in October 2002 to better reflect the Wi-Fi
brand it wants to build. Also, while the term "Wi-Fi" was used only in
place of the 2.4GHz 802.11b standard, in the same way that "Ethernet"
is used in place of IEEE 802.3, the Alliance expanded the generic use of the
term in an attempt to stop confusion about wireless LAN interoperability.
The bottleneck
The widespread reliance on networking among businesses and the meteoric
growth of Internet and online services are strong testimonies to the benefits of
shared data and resources. With Wireless LANs, users can access shared
information without looking for a place to plug in making anywhere, anytime
business a reality.
Globally, wireless LAN has gained immense popularity in verticals like health
care, retail, manufacturing, warehousing, and academia as these industries have
profited from the productivity gains of using hand-held terminals and notebook
computers to transmit real-time information to centralized hosts for processing.
Reports suggest that in the highly networked markets of US and Europe, wireless
LANs are popular because of four main reasons–user mobility, speedy and less
cumbersome installation, installation flexibility, and scalability.
Why Wireless? |
Mobility: Wireless LAN systems can provide LAN users with access to real-time information anywhere in their organization. This mobility supports productivity and service opportunities not possible with wired networks. |
Installation Speed and Simplicity: Installing a wireless LAN system can be fast and easy and can eliminate the need to pull cable through walls and ceilings. |
Installation Flexibility: Wireless technology allows the network to go where wire cannot go. |
Reduce Cost-of-Ownership: While the initial investment required for wireless LAN hardware can be higher than the cost of wired LAN hardware, overall installation expenses and life-cycle costs can be significantly lower. Long-term cost benefits are greatest in dynamic environments requiring frequent moves and changes. |
Scalability: Wireless LAN systems can be configured in a variety of topologies to meet the needs of specific applications and installations. Configurations are easily changed and range from peer-to-peer networks suitable for a small number of users to full infrastructure networks of thousands of users that enable roaming over a broad area. |
SOURCE: Proxim Inc whitepaper titled “What is Wireless LAN?” |
The same does hold good for India because the overall cost of wireless LAN
hardware has nose-dived in the last two years. However, the real benefit is lost
due to the recurring spectrum fee payable to the wireless planning and
coordination (WPC) wing of the Department of Telecom (DoT). While the first
necessitates Rs 18,000 per year for frequent use, every additional user needs to
pay one-fourth or Rs 4,505 per year as the license fee for use on this ISM band.
Not to mention that in the case of first time users, it usually takes three-four
months to get a clearance from WPC. However, an existing user of Wireless LAN
can expect to get a clearance in two-three weeks’ time. Worst, an organization
also needs to approach the WPC for allocation of frequency for every new user it
adds on its wireless LAN network.
Why the license?
While no body debates the fact that spectrum being a scarce national
resource needs to be managed in order to ensure that radio services are able to
operate on a non-interference basis, what the industry and users find as most
irksome is the licensing of the ISM band. While a senior DoT official cites
security as a major reason for putting WiFi in the license bracket industry
analysts and experts feel that the real motive can be revenue. Their argument is
substantiated to a certain extent by certain statements in the WPC’s document
on economic considerations of spectrum pricing. It says "While a free
market in spectrum does not appear feasible due to technical, economic, and
social considerations; auctions, transferable and flexible spectrum rights, and
well-designed fees can enable a number of the benefits of a market approach to
be realized. Fees can promote efficient use of the spectrum, provided they
incorporate the correct economic incentives and are not set so low as to be
negligible or so high as to exceed what a market would set."
In fact, while gross injustice has been done to technology, by putting WiFi
in the licensing category, the WPC also seems to be unaware of the market
dynamics even in fixing the cost for using this spectrum and violating its own
principles. No wonder then that despite availability of technology, wireless LAN
implementation has been limited to only some companies, mainly MNCs like
Microsoft and Cisco or top IT companies in the country. In fact, had it not been
the issue of DPL, Indians would not have had to wait couple of more months to be
able to use the technology that had triggered the imagination of scientists
almost 20 years back.
Not that the government is not aware of the issue. It certainly is or else
the Minister for IT and communication, Pramod Mahajan would not have told the
9th session of the General Assembly and the 26th Session of the Management
Committee of the Asia Pacific Telecommunity (APT) about the government’s
proposed plan to delicense the indoor use of wireless LAN. Unfortunately, while
India is amongst the very few countries that still warrants a license for
products using WiFi, such announcements have been in the offing for more than
three months now. And even while the draft notification to this effect has been
made, it is applicable only for 802.11b, Bluetooth, and part of wireless LAN
products. While security concerns add up to a mere technical issue, the major
hindrance is the political will for policy changes.If, despite the minister's
efforts, the DoT still wants to cling to the ‘license raj’ for WiFi, the
least the government can do is to bring down the license fee and do away with
the per user structure, the need to seek permission for every new user, and
charging only a fixed annual fee from the organizations willing to go the
wireless LAN way.
SHUBHENDU PARTH in New Delhi