Mahanagar Telephone Nigam Ltd (MTNL) may shelve plans to roll out Wimax services on the broadband wireless access spectrum it was allotted two years ago after failing to find a franchise partner.

Instead of Wimax, the state-controlled telecom company is likely to opt for the rival TD-LTE (time division-long term evolution) standard of wireless broadband technology, two of its officials said, requesting anonymity.

Wimax (worldwide interoperability for microwave access) is a fourth-generation telecom technology primarily used for high-speed wireless Internet.
TD-LTE is also a fourth-generation mobile technology that allows a peak download speed of 100 mega bits per second (Mbps) on mobile phones, compared with 20Mbps for third generation and 40Mbps for Wimax. Its main advantage over Wimax, in addition to speed, is that it is part of the popular GSM technology and is compatible with both second generation and third generation networks.

"The technology to be used is unlikely to begin rolling out before the last quarter of the current calendar year as it is still in its early stage,” one of the MTNL officials said.Kuldip Singh, chairman and managing director of MTNL, did not confirm that the company had decided to opt for TD-LTE over Wimax, but said it will invite bids soon.

"We had put a tender out some time back, looking for a franchise, but we were unable to select any of the parties that applied. The new tender will not discriminate between technologies to be provided on the spectrum,” Singh said.

"There have been a number of efforts to leverage the spectrum, but so far the telco has been unable to do anything,” said a senior department of telecommunications (DoT) official, who also didn’t want to be named. “As of now, we are unclear on what the present status is or if it has changed,” the official said.

MTNL was awarded the broadband wireless access spectrum in early 2009 and it decided to find a franchise partner for the service to keep costs low. The partner, to be selected through a tendering process, would be responsible for the roll-out, marketing and maintenance of the network and services, while the network would belong to MTNL. The two firms would share the revenue. But the tendering process as well as the decision to find a franchise partner for Wimax technology has come under fire.

The comptroller and auditor general (CAG) is considering a compliance audit of the Wimax tender process of state-run telcos, including MTNL and Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd (BSNL), which has started Wimax service in some areas, although it has missed deadlines for introducing the service across the country. The CAG is expected to come out with a report this year, looking into the auctioning procedures, selection of franchise partners and roll-out of Wimax.

Globally, the LTE technology is steadily gaining acceptance among telcos. The devices and ecosystem needed for TD-LTE’s penetration in the market are still largely under development. But it is considered more efficient and cost effective than Wimax because of its speed and compatibility with existing GSM-based technologies.

Many private operators that won the broadband wireless access spectrum in India in an auction last year, including Reliance Industries Ltd, have opted to deploy TD-LTE. Private telcos are expected to start rolling out their networks by the end of this year and start services before March 2012.

MTNL and BSNL did not participate in the auction for the spectrum and were given a headstart of almost a year-and-a-half over the private operators. But they have been unable to leverage this advantage. Auction winners were given spectrum in the 2.3 GHz band, while BSNL and MTNL were given spectrum in the 2.6 GHz band.