WiMAX is defined as Worldwide Interoperability for microwave access by the WiMAX Forum, formed in June 2001 to promote conformance and interoperability of the IEEE 802.16 standard, officially known as WirelessMAN. The standard aims to provide wireless data in a similar fashion to WiFi but on a larger scale and speed , hence making national wireless networks possible. The Forum describes WiMAX as "a standards-based technology enabling the delivery of last mile wireless broadband access as an alternative to cable and DSL."

 

Residents of Pune can now access Internet on their laptops sitting in a park or on the sidewalk in a part of Pune where the Municipal Corporation has successfully taken the first step towards making it India’s first ’unwired’ city. The Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) is to implement WiMAX and Wi-Fi technologies to provide wireless Internet access to around 400 sq km of the city. The PMC has set aside around Rs 7 crore and it will take around one year to complete the project.

 

The ambitious Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access (WiMAX) project announced by municipal commissioner Nitin Kareer last year took off on Monday for areas near Sambhaji Park and PMC headquarters. Termed Unwiring Pune, the project was jointly announced by global chip-maker Intel Corporation and PMC in March 2006 and was kick-started recently. Intel, along with Chennai-based Microsense, will establish infrastructure for a wireless communication network as technical advisors and service providers respectively covering the entire 280 sq km of this cultural center of Maharashtra in area including Deccan Gymkhana, Aundh, Baner and Model colony within four months and the entire city in the next 12-18 months, Municipal Commissioner Nitin Kareer said at the function to launch the project. Kareer said it was an attempt to provide easy internet access to citizens at all open spaces in the city at affordable rates. "Currently, the service will be provided free of cost, until it is extended to the 20 sq km when the project will be commercially launched at nominal user charges for which the modalities have to be worked out," Kareer said.

 

Union Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar, the chief guest for the function, said the project initiated by PMC would be useful to all sections of the society and professionals from all fields. "A lot of avenues will open up for the youth with the initiation of this revolutionary project. Pune is leaping forward in the field of Information technology, biotechnology and now also nanotechnology. The wireless connectivity will surely help boost these fields further," Pawar said.

 

Taking a leap over Bangalore and Hyderabad, Pune will become the first Indian city to have a high-speed wireless Internet network even before the Centre’s much-awaited spectrum policy is announced. The ambitious project, when complete, will enable people to access the Internet from anywhere in the city, without a cable, through their laptops or personal digital assistants (PDAs).

 

While Intel will provide design and planning support, Microsense will carry out network deployment. Microsense was involved in establishing a wireless Internet network at the airport here. Union Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar, Intel Managing Director (South Asia) R Sivakumar, Pune Mayor Rajlaxmi Bhosale and others will flag off the project. The technology used will be Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access, commonly known as WiMAX, and wireless fidelity or wi-fi. WiMAX is claimed to be the most cost-efficient way of building wireless data networks and a means to link people over large distances for "last mile" connectivity and bridging the digital divide. However, deployment of WiMax faces delays as the Central government is yet to announce its spectrum policy, which will allot bandwidth for high-speed connectivity.

 

The Pune Municipal Corporation’s step is aimed at providing ubiquitous connectivity to propel quicker adoption of e-governance and instant links to the world through the Internet. With the proposed backbone wireless communication network can be leveraged to meet the wireless networking needs of any citizen, university, or business with minimum additional investments, officials said.

 

This shall bring down the bandwidth blues faced by Indian IT professionals, which was a major drawback in their progress. Also access of WiMAX had helped communication in Aceh, Indonesia, after the attack of the Tsunami in December 2004. All communication infrastructures in the area were destroyed making the surviving people unable to communicate with people outside the disaster area and vice versa. WiMAX provided broadband access that helped regenerate communication to and from Aceh so that condition post Tsunami can be retrieved.