Last year along with the auction of 3G spectrum in 2100 Mhz band Govt. of India also auctioned spectrum in 2300 MHz band. Its just here that people are referring it as BWA since it is meant for offering Broadband services only, rather than voice/video/BB as in 3G. In BWA there total 3 operators in every circle with BSNL & MTNL being one out of those 3.
Now the difference between these two spectrum was that the 3G spectrum was 5 MHz FDM (Frequency Division Multiplexing) while the BWA spectrum was 20 MHz TDM(Time division Multiplexing). [
TDM & FDM]. What this means is that the 3G operators get 5Mhz (down-link)+5Mhz (up-link) bandwidth which cannot overlap. So this is the limitation of this spectrum while the amount of data traffic increases i.e. 3G operators cannot accommodate more users than a particular limit. While in the BWA spectrum whole 20 Mhz bandwidth is available for usage and it is utilized as per load or requirement.
In BWA there are two contending technologies at the moment LTE (Long Term Evolution) and WIMAX (Worldwide Interoperability for
Microwave Access). Bsnl is already providing services over Wimax since spectrum was allocated to them earlier in 2009 for use just they paid last year. While other 2 remaining pvt, operators got spectrum in last year( Sept. 2010). Now most of them are considering to use LTE technology as it offers many advantages over Wimax, speed & interoperability with 3g being the most important.
LTE is the widely adopted technology so more and more devices are coming out every year now. At present LTE enabled dongles, phones are out with pads/
tablets also coming up.
GSA Report: 110 Operators in 48 countries investing in LTE Networks
In India govt. is considering to auction 700 Mhz spectrum for 4G in next year which will enable larger coverage specially in rural areas with less investment and also offer better indoor coverage.
