Convergence Plus Journal

CP: Give a short overview of the market and future of Wi-Fi in India. Where does Wimax stand as compared to Wi-Fi in the Indian context?

BS: India is on the brink of a data tsunami as Internet in India will be Mobile. Currently there are 25 million Mobile Internet users as per Google India. There are over 75 top branded models of phones with Wi-Fi already in India. All the latest smartphones have Wi-Fi in them. Cisco VNI 2010 report states that while the mobile data growth rate globally stands at a CAGR of 108%, India has the highest country mobile data traffic growth in the world, with a CAGR of 222% from 2009 to 2014. This means Indian mobile data traffic will grow almost 350 times in the next five years! Since India is slated to have 1.16 billion mobile subscribers by 2013, this trend translates to almost 350 million Wi-Fi users in India by 2013. As 3G networks roll out in India, carriers will realize that Wi-Fi hotspots are not competitors but facilitators and will incentivize subscribers to use hotspots as much as possible to offload their 3G traffic. So the Wi-Fi market is set to explode in the near future!

Wi-Fi is the most cost-effective and technologically mature wireless technology in the market today. The data rate of Wi-Fi (802.11n standard) is at least twice WiMax while the chipset of Wi-Fi is 1/20th the cost of WiMax chipset which is why you do not see many WiMax-enabled devices in the market, while WiFi-enabled devices are becoming the norm. Moreover Wi-Fi uses unlicensed free spectrum with much lower CAPEX and OPEX as compared to WiMax for which Rs 38,500 crores have been spent in the Indian auctions for spectrum alone!

According to Qualcomm India Head Kanwalinder Singh, WiMax will only find use in limited urban environments, as it will be unable to meet its OpEx demands even if it charges Rs 750+ per user. Across the globe WiMax operators like Worldmax (Dutch), Freedom4 (UK), Yota (Russia) are pulling the shutters down on their WiMax deployments as most WiMax players have struggled to meet their rollout targets, and few have managed to attract substantial customer bases, leading WiMAX into a vicious circle of under performance leading to low funding for the setting up of infrastructure and vice versa. Even Intel is closing its WiMax Program Office in Taiwan, considered one of the most important markets for urban wireless deployments. In a price sensitive market like India, Wi-Fi wins hands down.

CP: What is the subscriber usage level of Wi-Fi at local hotspots?

BS: O-Zone is getting approximately 2 00 000 new users on a quarterly basis. The age group of users is mostly between 19 – 30 yrs of age .The average time spent on the network is 20 minutes. Usage is on the verge of exploding with our partner deals. Expectations are there that it will 10-fold in the next 12 months.

CP: What are the various growth plans and initiatives being taken by O-Zone Network?

BS: O-Zone plans to be the default carrier for all overload data traffic from 3G and 4G in the same way as AT&T uses Wayport Wifi network in the US. With India’s mobile data traffic predicted to grow 350 times in the next five years by Cisco, data offloading of 3G over Wi-Fi will be rampant in India and for this the Wi-Fi network will need to spread out virally. O-Zone has big plans to have the largest public Wi-Fi network in the market with 20,000 hotspots pan-India where the masses can access the Internet in a secure manner with a predictable service.

O-Zone is part of the WBA (Wireless Broadband Association) which is a global organization that manages the future of Wi-Fi and its certification. O-Zone is involved in many developments that make Wi-Fi the convergent technology of choice to the end device e.g. 3G to Wi-Fi roaming (3G used as the broadband back haul and Wi-Fi used to connect the device). So no matter what technology connects the office or building, Wi-Fi will still be the preferred technology to connect the device because of costs, speed and service.

The future plans will however not be limited to Wi-Fi, we will always be evaluating other technologies and applications to ensure the company is leading edge. O-Zone may also engage in certain mergers and acquisitions but it is too early to state anything.

With certain clients we have started to manage their private services as well. This will allow O-Zone to become a deeper partner than just provide internet services in years to come.

CP: Tell us about the USPs and key differentiators of your company.

BS: Since Europe is approximately three to five years ahead of India in terms of public Wi-Fi, my experience of heading the European WiFi giant ‘The Cloud’ where I was running Heathrow airport, city of London Wi-Fi etc., provides O-Zone with a significant edge in terms of knowing what the end customers and the carriers will need.

Moreover, O-Zone’s site clients are tier 1 players in high footfall locations in the education, hospitality, real estate, transportation, coffee shop, hospital and fast food verticals like Café Coffee Day, Delhi University, DLF, Ansals plaza, Fortis Hospitals, Om Book Store, Hard Rock Café, Oberoi and Trident chain of hotels, Accor Group, The Lalit and Radisson.

We have signed a number of national and international service provider deals with the likes of Airtel, iPass, Boingo and Comfone and there are many more in the offing. We have an All India Class A ISP License and work on a Neutral Host Model w.r.t technology, clients and solutions. But our biggest USP is that O-Zone did not compromise on costs and implemented "Enterprise" quality networks in every location with true "carrier grade equipment". We have an edge over our competitors also in terms of our TRAI-compliant network security. In fact IBM Security went through an audit of our network security just after the Mumbai 26/11 attacks and declared us as "security compliant". The type of security measures O-Zone has implemented are cell phone user-account binding, Layer 2 isolation, SMS based WEP key sharing, centralized authentication, intrusion prevention and detection mechanisms etc.

CP: Give a brief portfolio of the mobility solutions of O-Zone that addresses the trends in the Indian market.

BS: As per Cisco VNI report, almost 80% of mobile data usage is at a fixed location rather than on-the-go. Hence we believe the wireless bearer’s speed and cost are very important for mobile data VAS to take off as compared to just mobility.

However O-Zone supports pan-India roaming over its hotspots.

CP: What is the potential of wireless mobility solutions to increase connectivity in tier 2 and 3 cities as well as rural areas in India?

BS: O-Zone’s strategy is to first deploy Wi-Fi in the cities with maximum mobile Internet usage initially like Delhi NCR, Mumbai, Chennai, Kolkata, Hyderabad, Bangalore and Pune. After these deployments we will head to tier 2 and tier 3 cities.

We do see there is great potential in tier2/3 cities and rural areas as Wi-Fi is the most economical and mature technology to connect smaller towns etc. but it always comes down to priorities and resources. At this moment in time we are too occupied to address this territory.