HONG KONG-With the cellular phone market saturated at 86 percent of the population, Hong Kong’s wireless engineers have wasted no time in jumping on the next bandwagon-WiFi and Bluetooth, short range technologies with potential applications in companies and household.
The upsurge in totally unregulated wireless local area networks (WLANs) has not gone unnoticed by the telecom authority OFTA, which plans to issue free class licenses for networks that offer a public telecommunication service, so they are covered by the Telecommunications Ordinance. Operators that provide Internet access or voice telecommunications will also need the appropriate service licenses.
OFTA published a consultation paper detailing its licensing plans and calling for comments. The dozen or so submissions received in response to OFTA’s proposals were split into two groups. A small number of prospective WLAN providers and the Hong Kong Wireless Technology Industry Association (WTIA) were pleased with the proposal for easy-to-get class licenses and raised only minor points of clarification.
But the majority of submissions were from Hong Kong’s mobile operators, which each wade in with several pages of criticism, arguing that much stricter regulation is necessary when WLANs provide a service to the public.
Hutchison Telecom sees it as “very likely” that wireless LANs at different locations will be linked by the Internet or leased circuits, to provide territory-wide voice and data communications, and therefore WLANs should be subject to mobile operator license conditions. Interconnection and interference are two of several issues that necessitate stricter regulation than a class license.
PCCW also has “strong objections” to the use of a class license for WLANs and believes that they should have to meet the same regulatory requirements as telecom operators. PCCW is particularly concerned with anti-competitive behavior that may arise, especially in large residential or shopping complexes. Hong Kong’s property market is controlled by a few commercial conglomerates, several of which are affiliated with fixed-line carriers. Some such property owners will enter anti-competitive agreements with affiliated WLAN providers to keep other WLAN providers out and prevent customers from choosing a WLAN provider, said PCCW.
Sunday claimed that waiving the license fee for WLANs is extremely unfair to mobile operators, which would be subsidizing the WLAN providers.
New World Telephone said the easy availability of class licenses would increase the number of WLAN providers, some of which would be small and technically incompetent. “Two-dollar companies are more prone to failure, malpractice and mismanagement,” it said.
Hutchison Global Communications stressed that only regulation can restrict WLAN provision to technically competent operators that can provide some protection against hackers and other security risks that might threaten WLAN users.
Smartone Mobile Communications emphasized that more regulation is necessary to avoid interference problems, both with Bluetooth networks and other WLANs.
The frequencies assigned for Wi-Fi are 2400 to 2483.5 MHz; 5150 to 5350 MHz, for indoor use only pending an International Telecommunication Union (ITU) decision; and 5725 to 5850 MHz.
Licensing of Wi-Fi is a good idea, according to Roy Ho, marketing executive of Zida Technologies, a Hong Kong-based manufacturer of a WLAN solution. “As demand for WLANs increases in the future, interference will be common on 2.4 GHz, which is shared by equipment such as microwave ovens. Government regulation will ensure regulation and allocation of additional frequencies,” he said.
More controversially, OFTA plans to ban WLANs from crossing roads or other government property using building-to-building wireless links, even though these are much cheaper than leased lines. Opposition to this restriction is certain, said Jason Chan, 3COM’s technical manager for South Asia. “Users of building-to-building bridges would have to write off their equipment and go for recurrently charged leased lines with comparatively lower bandwidth,” said Chan.
New wireless association
Another response to the general proliferation of wireless is the formation of WTIA, a professional body that promotes the wireless industry. Already, the association has 100 corporate members, ranging from cellular operators to manufacturers and consultants.
Ken Fong, director of events and publications for WTIA, said: “WLANs are favored by SMEs (small to medium-sized enterprises) that often move their offices every two or three years. We estimate that over 20,000 access points have been installed in homes and corporations.”
In addition to private WLANs, popular cyber cafes, the largest being Pacific Coffee Company with eight branches, offer Internet access.
One of the most extensive WLAN sites in Hong Kong is at the International Airport, where the world’s largest passenger terminal building houses WLAN for public Internet use. This year, the Airport Authority is holding trials to extend the service for use by internal staff and contractors, airline operators, baggage handlers, shops and restaurants.
“Laying cables for a fixed-line network could mean inconvenience and higher costs. A wireless network provides mobility and convenience for both ourselves and our business partners to access individual corporate databases,” said Stephen Lam, the Airport Authority’s assistant general manager for land transport and communications.
Wireless education
The Delia School of Canada recently installed 30 access points that provide complete coverage to two five-story buildings, a two-story building and the campus grounds. Laptops are stored on trolleys and issued to children ages 6 to 18 years. The WLAN replaces two computer rooms that gave only limited PC access. “Now we can use computers for art, music or any other subjects. Students can bring their own laptops and access the file server, Internet or their personal school e-mail, while teachers can enter grades anywhere on the campus,” said Jason Walter, the school’s information technology (IT) manager.
The Delia School follows WLANs installed at several of Hong Kong’s leading universities during the past few years.
Office equipment vendor Ricoh now equips most new machines sold in Hong Kong with a WLAN network card and will also install complete networks for customers. “Hong Kong customers who use our multi-function scanners, copiers and printers can now network them by wireless, enabling them to be moved anywhere in their premises where there is a power socket, without having to worry about connections to the network,” said Aaron Yim, chief operating officer, Ricoh Office Systems.
Competition for mobile data
Internet access through WLANs may eventually cover all the significant commercial centers in Hong Kong, making it a strong competitor for mobile data. “Users can check their e-mail and browse selected Internet sites with their GPRS (General Packet Radio Service) WAP (Wireless Application Protocol) phones. However, a PDA (personal digital assistant) running Windows CE and connected to a WLAN can browse the full Internet like a desktop PC, albeit with a small screen that demands a lot of scrolling,” said Dr H.C. Lui, technical director of the WTIA.
Cellular operators have targeted mobile data, but they may be outbid by WLANs for short-range commercial applications. The first third-generation (3G) networks that should appear in Hong Kong by December will initially offer limited bandwidth comparable with GPRS, and high bandwidth may be years in arriving.
Another market to fight over is the use of wireless networks by retailers to provide information and promotions on shops, restaurants and cinemas to passing consumers. An early concept was for the public to use mobile phones with Bluetooth, but WLA
Ns have more bandwidth, rapidly improving security and range-up to 100 meters compared with 10 meters for
Bluetooth.
Mobile phones cannot use WLAN networks, said Dr Lui. “And if they could, the battery drain would be excessive,” he added. “However, low-power consumption chipsets are being developed for 802.11 networks, and also dual chipsets that can support Bluetooth and WLAN networks, so it is conceivable that mobile phones could become compatible with WLANs.”
In the short term, WLANs may be more suitable for commercial transactions than cellular systems, especially regarding security. “Cellular networks are public, with limited security, while wireless LANs are used for corporate data and have six to seven levels of security, which can be utilized for commercial transactions,” said 3Com’s Chan. GW
