The first WiMAX network in Nigeria is being deployed by Startech in Abuja using BreezeMAX 3500 system from Alvarion.

Startech will use the BreezeMAX system to provide high speed data and voice services to subscirbers in Abuja.

Startech operates using the 3.5Ghz frequency. Initially Startech will deploy the Alvarion's BreezeMAX 3500 system in Abuja but later they are expected to expand to others states where they have licenses.

Is that so? Suburban made a similar claim sometime ago. . .

hello Mr. Wimax,

Abuja is not the first city to deploy wimax technology my guy, or Alverion product, Wimax technology had been deploy here in lagos since by DOPC and some other WISP here using the same BreezeMAX 3500!

Any Comment on this?

Dear Chaxta:

Yes I think it is true that Suburban made such a claim - but my knowledge is that they deployed sometime ago a wireless network in the  5GHz band.  They are now rolling out a  3.5Ghz WiMAX network using Alvarion  equipment in Abuja.

Suburban is becoming a very strong player in the BWA (Broadband Wireless Access) arena in Nigeria you can expect them to become a major supplier of BWA services  based on WiMAX technology.

Wimaxer.

Hello Bolaji:

You challenge me and I did some checking.
Direct On PC (DOPC) has a great BWA network operating in Lagos using Alvarion equipment. I think though that
on closer examination you will find that the system they are using is Pre WiMAX rather than a WiMAX compliant system. I also found out the Direct On PC is operating not only in Lagos but also in other Nigerian cities like Abuja and Port Hartcourt. It appears that they system the are using from Alvarion is BreezeACCESS VL which according to Alvarion operates in the 5 GHz. band.

Do you know of another WIXP in Nigeria using BreezeMAX 3500 from Alvarion.

On another note Kudos to DONPC for offering a good quality Broadband Service at a great price for value.

Let me know about the other WISP in Lagos using BreezeMAX - I'll start making my enquiries.

WiMAXER.

Hello Wimaxer

Something tells me you re trying to compile some research if not so, probaly you re member of the wimax forum or is it that you work for alverion or wht?

Anyway my company is on a process of deploying wi-fi base station in surulere, lagos here for Salcom so that clients can connect with standard wifi card but am not considerin alverion here. but the base station will be on wimax technology

It's averion and lobometrics i recommend if one want to start a fixed wireless service provider because both produce a good wimax system.

On the issue of frequency,  i learn that NCC had announce no ISP should deploy any system operating at  5ghz up ward without proper licensing.

But a colleague of mine who work for a WISP here in lagos said NCC visited their office to check if they were oprating at a  frequency or not but it was an oral conversation,  i guess they don't really have the right tool to examine or was it that they don't have the professional.

Hello Bolaji:

We need to get some things straight:

Firstly about 4 years ago the NCC made an announcement that they would outlaw the use of the ISM band. (ISM band = 2.4 and some of the 5Ghz band) - This of course was just before they auctioned off the 3.5GHz frequencies.

Well time went by and all of a sudden WiFI (which is basically a buzz word for using ISM band frequency) became very popular in Europe and America and suddenly we see articles by the Executive VC of the NCC saying how great WiFI is and how Nigeria needs hot spots, Funny cos just a year ago he said ISM band is for Inside use only,

Also the NCC then stated that they have no responsibility for the quality of service you get if you subscriber to a service using the ISM Band,

Bottom Line: Most of the world allows provision of service in the ISM bands - And today that includes Nigeria.
The regulations are a bit fuzzy in the 5.8GHz band - but as so much service and technoloy and WIFI uses 5.8GHz I think its a safe bet to say that 5.8Ghz is here for good and that the regulator has better things to do.

Regarding your comment about the NCC not having the right tool - I would be careful making such assumptions - They have the tools - and anyway its not so difficult to ask the WISP.

Don't get confused with WiMAX and WiFI - they are not the same. WiFI is generally in the 2.4 and 5.8GHz band; has limited range (Cos of limited power) and has very little technology to enable controlling quality of service.

WimAX is generally today in licensed frequencies 2.3, 2.5 and 3.5 Ghz - and offers service with reasonable range and non line of site. The real vision of WiMAX is to give service that is equivalent to GSM but that is also Broadband.

In the Nigerian situation where there is virtually no copper - WiMAX is the perfect solution for Bringing carrier class broadband service to the consumer. Don't mistake me there are some very successful WIFI operators out there - small - but successful and usually in semi rural markets.

The way forward is WiMAX - Its the ultimate solution - and thats why operators like Suburban, and Startech who seem to be the first real WiMAX operators in Nigeria are worthy of mention.

In addtion it seems that Alvarion has taken the place of the lead supplier of WiMAX equipment in NIgiera. In generaly you will see that most commercially successful WiMAX networks world wide come from Alvarion - and if you look at Africa specificaly only Alvairon has established long term commercially successful WimAX networks.


WiMAXER.

Wimmaxer really has a good grasp of the Broadband market in Nigeria and im impressed.

I have the following questions and clarifications?

1. Does suburban have license for 3.5Ghz for Abuja? I am aware they were interested in buying over a company that has the License for many states!

2. There will eventually be many broadband providers in Nigeria which will make internet affordable and pervsive to the man on the streets. That is the beauty of competition. I know that startech and suburban plan to use Alvarion in Abuja while another 3.5Ghz operator in lagos is also using Alvarion. Alvarion has tested solutions in africa but they have severall shortcomings which i understand will be addressed by mid-next year when their mobile wimax products will be available.

3. Sure, DOPC is yet to start providing Wimax services on licensed frequencies. But very very soon, it will start and will become more available.

4. the GSM operators are all planning to roll-out WIMAX services too.Likewise some of the recently licensed Unified License Operators.

4. I totally agree that WIMAX is one of the best technology for revolutionalising communications in Nigeria, especially for residential internet users. This is an opportunity that is springing up because of NITEL's lack of vision which resulted in non-availability of fibre/copper network all over Nigeria.

5. i have been studying Wimax since 2002 and right now, it is going to spread like wild-fire in Nigeria in the coming months. It will become available nationwide and the competition will enable most Nigerians have cheap internet services at home!!

Hello Sholatech:

1. Yes Suburban has a 3.5Ghz License in Abuja. They are deploying BreezeMAX / WiMAX in that frequency.
Yes it would make sense if they were to purchase / get hold of additional 3.5Ghz licenses so that Suburban could become a national Nigerian WiMAX operator.

2. You comment of there being Many Broadband providers in Nigeria is probably the biggest challenge in the market. The Telecoms market and specifically the Braodband market needs consolidation - just as we saw when GSM came. - For Broadband to be provided at a good quality with good value at a price available to the consumer then some big players need to emerge. Watch this space you will probably see the GSM operators entering this space soon. Yes the GSM operators will probably deploy WiMAX instead of 3G. - Look at MTN Uganda and others who are already deploying WiMAX equipment.

3. WiMAX in Nigeria will succeed but only after an increase in penetration of computers. To this end the governments progamme of a computer for all as well as Intels vision of a sub $300 computer is what will make the WiMAX operator market huge.

Hello Wimaxer,

Nice point you have there, secondly maybe you did not get my geek there, of course i no the difference btw wifi and wimax technology. wht am trying to say is a pre-wimax wifi outdoor base stations. can you decode that i guess?

The issue of Ncc regulating frequencies at which service provider operate in Nigeria has never been effective rather they are busy with the telecoms companies regulating their tariffs and other thing they felt they can raise funds,

Wether Ncc has banned service provider to operate at a frequencies in nigeria or not every body who is technically sound no that, there lots of service provider out there whom operate at any frequencies so far as it's going to meet their expectation coverage area.

Operating at ISM band of 2.4, every body nos it a free license environ that does not need you register if you want to operate in that frequencies, it's none worldwide. That's why you will no that Ncc is not good enough.

Yeah wimax is the answer to the broadband world because its promising a very large coverage, of about 25 miles or more.

Most service provider still find it expensive to upgrade to wimax b'cos their existing infrastructure is working for them effective especially those that provide fixed wireless. But as time goes, there would be a need for that in terms of coverage.

Most fixed wireless outdoor systems manufacturer operating at ISM band are now providing upgrade to wimax technology through updating via firmware so there is no need discarding your old systems for new built wimax system. Its only the new companies just entring the game of wireless broadband internet would rather go for 802.11n technology.

Alverion is doing very well and they had roged systems. Me as a person dont really reley on a vendor. there are many vendors providing wimax systems out there and the fact that they are not yet deploy in Nigeria does not make alverion alone in wimax world, if you go internet you will find many of them.

Guys I have a question.

@WIMAXER,

I live in Abuja, and currently have a Senao 802.11b/g bridge connecting to my WISP, whose customer service, I am not too happy with. The link is pretty fast though. Now If WIMAX becomes the place to be, do I need a new CPE to connect to say Surburban or Startech?

Maxi,

You will definitely need a new CPE to connect to Suburban/Startech or any WIMAX Service Provider.

Your present CPE is not a WIMAX Certified/Compliant equipment.

802.11a/g is ISM band frequency - it might be WIFI equipment but it is NOT wimax equipment.

Also - don't be to confident on relying on the compatiability of WiMAX certified equipment.

WiMAX equipment that is currently certified is what is called 1st WAVE certificatoin. This level of certification is really very limited and the reality is that operators will not realistically take equiipment from one manufacturer and use it with the based from a second manufuacturer.

This is becos wave one certification (WiMAX forum tests in WAVEST) tested a very basic level of connectivity but the Wave one did not include tests relating to quality of service functionality - and any decent operator must
embed quality of service (QOS) functionality into their network.

WiMAXER.

Myth or Fantasy?

Someone told me that Wimax and Mobile IP will replace ADSL and FTH as the principle method of deploying the internet to the mass population?

Isnt there limited RF bandwidth available for IP networking on these frequencies?

Wont they suffer from the same problems Lagos faced when the 2.4 and 5.8 networks ruled the roost some 5 years ago when we all suffered from eplieptic services?

Doesn't NLOS require something for the signal to bounce off for it to work properly and isnt it designed for urban terrains not rural?


Are we just being conned into buying more boxes that will not provide us what we really need, like a stable copper network supporting broadband at speeds of up to 24Mb/s?

I was in the UK recently and they are getting 8Mb/s to there homes and this is being provided FREE!!!!! How can this be when most business's still use dial up or a dilapidated high cost service with no quality assured?

I have heard that Nitel has more than 10K ports of ADSL ready to deploy in Lagos alone and has deployed already in Abuja with a capability of providing 1Mbps to the subscriber at distances of 3.5Km, dont you think it is unwise of a large company to deploy Wimax (when the std is not set yet) ?

Also the key to delivering cheap broadband services is not the deliver method but the backhaul, which we dont have in Nigeria.

Anyone who recieves their internet access from an ISP depending of SAT 3 via Nitels inland Fibre Network will now how unreliable that is.

In addition with no Internet Exchange Points in Nigeria all our traffic is still transiting Europe and the USA so dont you think it wise to solve the basic network before we start selling more junk into a country already flooded with good intentions?

Is Nigeria now the test bed of Europe or is it that these products cant be sold in Europe so we are the dumping ground?

Is our problem technology or affordability? Which is it?

FREE 8Mb/s BROADBAND IN UK vs N85000.00 for a 64Kb/s Service in Nigeria?

Dear Wifiman:

Firstly there can be no doubt worldwide that ADSL can deliver the highest capacity Broadband. Just look at the success throughout the world. BUT, In order to have great ADSL delivery you need a well maintained copper plant (access network) and good network operations - I'm sorry to say that Nitel has neither.

Objectively though, even if Nitel has the ADSL equipment in place - how long will it take for them to activate the line and hom many days in the month will it work. There are ADSL suppliers in Nigeria (Lagos) look at say VGC.

But taking into account the reality if the Nigerian market I think that for most the only hope of cost effective quality broadband will be via a WiMAX radio technology.

I don't know why you see Nigeria as the dumping ground of Europe. - WiMAX technology is already found in several countries in Europe - yes true the deployments are semi rural as the WiMAX technology comes to compliment the copper plant - but the equipment and technology have proovent themselves.

Generally you will find that the poor quality of service provided by operators relates to their Network Managment Skills, Network desing and generally relating to the operation of the network - and not the equipment itself. -

Regarding lack of peering of traffic in Nigeria - yes that is a 100% true - but don't blame the operators its an environmental issue.

Finally regarding price - yes price is coming down in Nigeria. Prices are dependant on the cost of Internet wholesale i.e. SAT3 and VSAT and of course the cost of doing business in Nigeria is high. As the market enlrages so will prices fall.

SO my thesis holds - Mass brodaband can only be delivered in Nigieria using a Wireless technology - and the state of the art prooven technology is WiMAX. Watch the emerging operators in Nigeria in WiMAX - Suburban and Startech, Watch well managed operators like DirectONPC - Some or all of them will emerge as leaders.





WiMAXER

There is no doubt that Broadband Wireless is the way to provide pervasive internet service to homes in Nigeria.
This is because of the infrastructural constraints in the country as NITEL never made plans for it. yes, Nitel is laying copper now in some residentail areas but there is no operator in the country that can wire up the country cost-effectively and provide ubiquitous broadband the way wireless technologies will. who has that money?even those that can invest billions of dollars prefer to use it for GSM!!

Now, the technology can be hspda,hspdua, cdma 2000 1x-evdo Rev A/B, Wimax, w-cdma etc. But i can bet you that you can use any of these to provide cheap internet service to residences/individuals in Nigeria. Forget about ADSL!! I go for Wimax because of the potentials and especially the names behind it.

Like wimamer said, startetch and suburban are deploying Wimax/802.16d in Abuja. There are several Telcos and start-ups now with equipments ready to deploy cheap broadband services on Licensed frequencies. Forget the Uk companies like Carwarhouse and BSkyb offering so-called free Internet service. It is for selling their core services. and you can only get 8MBPS if you are Just the way Google intends setting up free wifi-centres in certain cities worldwide.

With the information at my disposal, many homes in major commercial cities in Nigeria will have access to broadband courtesy many of these wireless technologies at a price that is better than ADSL. and each residence can have up to 12 MBPS for quadruple play!That is even before any body planning ADSL can finish working on the network design!

Wireless technologies like wimax are not been dumped on Nigerians-nay africans. Are we not using GSM? OFDM/SOFDMA technology that's now standardised is well established. Within the last 3 years, we have millions connected to broadband using this technology. See what clearwire is doing in USA that is making AT&T, Sprint and several incumbents are running helter skelter to partner with them or deploy similar tecnologies. And that is in a country where you have ADSL+ running everywhere. even satellite-to-home Internet providers are running to WIMAX/HSPDA/CDMA!!

wimaxer: the lack of local peering isn't just an environmental problem. I tried convincing local ISPs that peering was the way to go back in '99, and while many of the technical staff understood what I was talking about, the suits (eg; the people who write the checks) didn't understand it, and didn't trust the other ISPs enough to peer with them. So on the one hand, if the major operators back then (Hyperia, Linkserve, Cyberspace, etc) had started working on peering we'd have an exchange in Lagos, and probably an entire in-country hosting industry that doesn't exist now. But on the other hand, a few years later when someone at the NCC heard talk about an Internet exchange, they told me that the exchange would have to be a company, would have to apply for an ISP license, as well as a special IP exchange license that would have to be created (bureaucracy, bureaucracy, etc).

I'm glad to see people rolling out wimax, though. For those of you who are doing it now, what sort of coverage area distance-wise are you seeing from your transmitter sites?

I have done some serious hoework recently. There is anew VSAT system they cal it DVBs2 launched by Direct On PC- in Nigeria and West Africa- super fast under 100,000 N. They also have very good wireless service ( I am using Alvarion)- excellent bandwidth for 12,500 N monthly. After visitng the company last week, i saw they are on a serious wimax rollout in next 4 month with fixed telephone and Pc telephone service.

I tried the startech Alvarion in Abuja for at my brothers office- it is very slow and support is very bad. Nectocm- I have no faith in these Chinese and Hyperia is just crappy!

So far I have seen Direct On PC- very reliable and am waiting to see the new vsat and wimax from the,. Look for it guys! I am also told soon we could have a Lagos nuber on VSAt anywhere in Nigeria etc

DOPC is definately folloing out wimax and it seems they have the best frequency for Lagos, PH and Abuja on 2.3 GHZ. This is what Intel suggests for fixed an mobile wi max.

Their new vsat is Hughes DVBs2 and comined with wi max and telephony it is going to be a killer. They surely give the best bandwidth for the prices and backup support is good!

Anyone else rolling out on 2.3 GHz wimax or a cheap DVBs2 vsat? Let me know

Maybe I'm not reading it correctly, but this is what I still miss in Nigeria; a fully covering Mesh network using wifi and is easily expandable with wimax and 'any other technology'.

Although I share the views of you all, 99% of the population in Nigeria will have no clue what this discission is about. Why does no provider start using the proper equipment that can fully cover hundreds of square miles with wifi, using pre-paid cards for instance so ANYONE can make use of internet, ANYWHERE?

Since wifi is build in most computers these days, or is easily available and affordable, this is something that needs to be concentrated on first.

As far as I can see there are some small projects in Lagos, of companies which claim they use the Mesh technology, but then use equipment that doesn't really seem to forefill their whishes, hence the reason why it is not seriously advertised anywhere. (I can hardly find it) It is not expandable with other technologies.

In stead of running around chasing the latest technologies, shouldn't we be concentrated with actually getting internet anywhere?

Unfortunately the maze in NCC's licensing and ridiculous pricing structure seems to withhold many providers. It stopped us from investing 7 million dollars in this project.

hey wimaxer, men i really enjoyed your postings i really must confess u'v got considerable knowlegde in wireless technologies which i got intrest in too. i stay in abj and wouldn't mind a chance to get to meet wit u and know more.pls do gimme a call 08032198868.thanks in anticipation

John S: are you sure what DOPC has is WIMAX? I'm not sure even they know themselves as I have asked repeatedly and got a blank. "fixed broadband wireless" is what they always say. Like there aren't diff types of wireless technologies. sigh!

My opinion. yes wireless is the way to go, but the people with the money don't have the brains to know this nor listen to those who know. If starcomms is now rolling out EV-DO some years after they came out with their dial up, why didn't they just start with broadband wireless when they came out. but no. And now that they do, they give you a bill of 20K/month while their peers are charging under 8k. We have a long way to go with internet connectivity in 9ja I tell ya.

Hi,

I fully agree that the bottomline is providing ubiquitous and affordable Internet services to Nigerians.

However,i am yet to see any other technology that can achieve this effectively in Nigeria-aside from WIMAX!! This is considering our lack of backbone infrastructure, cost and availability of spectrum in licensed frequencies. Many of those that tried to deploy Mesh network in Lagos on the unlicensed frequencies saw hell with the challenging terrain. We once got a link at 25km in mainland lagos but on the island, we used all available skills and equipments and only had 4-6km range!!

Yes, DOPC is going to be one of the key WIMAX players. Of course, they are presently not using WIMAX equipments but Fixed Broadband Wireless equipments from Alvarion on the unlicensed frequencies. They were recently given spectrum on 2.3Ghz in Lagos, Abuja and Port-Harcourt but i disagree that that frequency is the best for WIMAX-according to Intel. That is pure marketing deceit. The major frequencies for WIMAX are 3.5Ghz, 2.5 Ghz and 2.3Ghz. Mobile Wimax Equipments are coming out first in 3.5Ghz this year, followed by 2.5 Ghz early 2007 and sometime later-2.3 GHZ. DOPC applied for and obtained 2.3Ghz from NCC because that was what was available at that time(Mar-May 2006).

Expect several WIMAX providers in Lagos, Abuja and Port-Harcourt. Also, the GSM operators are planning to provide nationwide WIMAX services from 2007.

As regards DVB-VSAT solutions, the cost is dropping significantly. IWAY africa too is dropping to 100,000 naira and im aware of a UK company planning to sell 40,000 naira vsats in nigeria starting from October. Wimax is destroying Vsat business case, especially as nationwide roll-out commences

Hello All,

I would like to chip in a few points of mine regarding this topic. I manage and partly own a WISP that operates in the South-South region of the country. We run our network basically on ISM like 85% of Nigeria's ISP and most other parts of the world where ADSL is not available. The whole thing behind it in Nigeria is not whether it is WiMax or Wi-Fi or dial-up or cdma or etc, etc, its what comes behind it. Whats the use of having Wi-Max which doesnt require LOS or mast or whatever when the BW coming supplied behind it cant even opne you a single webpage? Fair enough, the NLOS advantage of Wi-Max and Navini and others is good but at the end of the day the client is not looking out for what the cost of equipment is or whether he will need a mast, but for the service and the cost of getting it. I am using ISM in one of the states I service and with POPs all around, clients just need a pole to get hooked up and trust me that is still how Hyperia and DOPC are deploying their so called 3.5Ghz radios around.

And for now one important thing to know in the world is the 2 words Wi-Max and Affordable dont go in the same sentence no matter which country you are in.

Hi , Guys,
I just moved into life camp Abuja. And trying to find out best solution to go on-line Currently on Dailup

I have two options

1. Directon PC Vsat - 12. Dia with 2 watt transmitter

Installation 115,000 Naira and a
night owl package of (300/1000 KBPS) 15750 per month ( 3 months to be paid up front)- Available 8 pm to 6 Am and whole weekends
Direct PC claims a ratio of 5 so it makes 256 KBPS download ( i Hope)

2. Startech Wimax
10,000 Account opening fee ( non refundable)
12750 PM for 96/128 KBPS Always on - to be paid 3 Months up front


I use net mainly for Internet banking/surfing and torrents and would like to use it for Goggle talk and Skype


I would love to have higher Badwidth ( offered by DOPC) but afraid of their ping times - Satelite lag for telephony /VOIP

Worried about Startecs Service reliability /uptime and actual lag


What do you suggest which one I should Go for

Also try SubUrban telecoms in abuja. Ask for pricing of their Wimax and Vsat offerings.

If Startech and Sururban have coverage in life-Camp. that will be better for you.
if not, go for DOPC. They have best support than the other two companies.
If you have no other option than DOPC, you can still use it for Skpe/Google talk. it will still be clear just that this option is most expensive for you and sure, latency issues to battle with

In the end can anybody clarify which freq. (3,5 or 5GHz or another) and what Alvarion equipment (Breezemax or BreezeACCESS VL) use DOPC (Direct on PC) ? Thanks

@ Wimaxer,

I find out your postings very helpful in my current study on Wimax Technology, I am just new into Wimax but now new in Wireless. I would like to know from you the cost of Wimax Equipments i.e. Alvarion's BreezeMAX 3500 system, and the rest, and please can you provide me with details on the basic requirements for setting up Wimax in a small town with expected 150 Users? What are the fee for NCC Licence on that ?.

GUys,
anyone have any info on Hyperia's WiMAX service in Port Harcourt? I'm really keen on findin gout more about this, cos i need broadband internet in my House ASAP!

I have seen several press releases where Navini claims that they have won the equipment contract for Hyperia and DOPC.

Are there any other Wimax service providers in Nigeria?

Doeas anyone know what they are charging for internet service?

Is anyone offering Voice over IP?

Kudo's to you all, very imprressive topic i enjoyed all, must confess it's cool!! Out of adventure, i jumped into intenet cafe buisness, conected Via a Linkstar 1.2 meter dish hooking up to F.O.B sky in canada.

D cafe is running smooth, but i want to go up another level, Provide wireless access for my customers who are just within 2-4 km radius around me, I don't intend to strugle wit d big guys!! just want to satisfiy my clients.

Any one want to help? i have no idea the equpments requierd but i need one which the client side equipments are very cheap, i dont mind buying up the whole solution too!!