Wireless
I am writing in response to the article "Will we still need overland lines in the future?" of Oct 5. The answer is yes, we will. Simply because the overland lines, all 600 millions of them, worldwide, are already there and are growing by 6 percent every year.
When any new telecom technology comes along, telecom operators do not decommission their existing plant and install a new network, rendering the older one redundant. First, new technology brings new systems that enhance, improve or complete existing ones. Second, operators invest in technology that makes economic sense, not because they are sexier.
The concepts presented by Mr. Arbi are not news for Indonesia. The joint operations busy installing new lines were installing Wireless Local Loop in all areas. None of them are Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA) standard. CDMA is a U.S. idiosyncrasy, not a worldwide standard such as GSM or DECT. Whenever Mr. Arbi bumps into people using a Personal Handyphone System, as he mentions, they are most likely using a GSM mobile phone, not a CDMA. And they work.
Most of the blame for the problems and limitations Mr. Arbi mentions in the telephone network can be put to the existing switching architecture rather the access. Because operators implement a core switch and run all services out of it, Mr. Arbi has to live with long copper cables, long drop wires and limited quality service. A better network architecture is to shrink the core switch by deploying access nodes at its edge and run the service back to the scaled down main switch.
With V5.2 open interfaces to the switch, which provides concentration, the operator saves significant money in those very expensive cards in the main switch. Moreover, if the operator wants to save an up-front cost of expensive software upgrade of the switch, it can use the access node switch as a protocol converter. Thus, with the same investment for pure telephony, without making redundant any existing facility, the operator can offer high-speed Internet, data, Integrated Services Digital Network (ISDN) and telephony. That is new technology enhancing existing services, improving services' quality and offerings, and generating more revenue to the operator. Wireless Local Loop is not a "solve all" solution. It is a complementary technology to these I mention above.
His metaphor of a bajaj (motorized three-wheel vehicle) vs a BMW is not a very good one. Just below his article on the same page, there is an article Singaporeans are averse to getting connected. Read it and you will discover that BMWs stay parked in Singaporean garages; bajaj swarm Indonesian streets.
OSVALDO COELHO
Jakarta