WIMAX TECHNOLOGY PROPOSED TO BE USED FOR DATA TRANSMISSION IN ARMENIA
Noyan Tapan
Apr 04 2006
YEREVAN, APRIL 4, NOYAN TAPAN. Representatives of the Alvarion company
(Israel) on April 3 presented to the Armenian consumer the broadband
radio access systems envisaged for the digital transmission of
Internet, sound and visual data. Igor Bashes, manager for preliminary
sales preparation at Alvarion, said that the company occupies 31%
of the world market of these systems. It operated under the name of
BreezeCOM company before 2001. Alvarion was formed after the merger
with Floware company and later it was joined by Innowave and InterWAVE
companies. According to I. Bashes, the WiMAX systems of Alvarion ensure
a coverage within a 40-km radius in conditions of direct visibility
and within a 7-12-km radius in cities. He said that from 2007, these
systems can be applicable in laptops produced with Centrino processors
of the Intel company.
Alvarion’s authorized distributor and service center in CIS countries
is the Cedicom company, whose president Simon Paamon noted that now
the equipment to secure a radio access by the subscriber’s personal
computer costs 1,200 USD, but the price may decline 2-3fold as a
result of using Intel’s new chip.
According to Karapet Avetisian, Armenian representative of Cedicom,
technical director of Redinet company, Alvarion’s systems can be
used by ArmenTel and VivaCell companies, as well as by various
Internet service providers and the final users of the Internet. In
his words, Alvarion’s radiosystems allow the subscriber to use a 12
megabit/second capacity radio channel. He said that a base station
to secure communication with radio channels of this capacity for 250
subscribers will cost at least 20 thousand dollars. According to K.
Avetisian’s information, WiMAX systems of Alvarion are competible with
the network of Wi-Fi systems installed by the Arminco company. The
network operates by the radiomodem – optical channel combination. In
response to a question of NT correspondent, technical director
of Arminco Grigor Saghian said that the technology proposed by
Alvarion can promote a rapid development of Arminco’s network, since
optico-fiber channels with a higher transmission capacity cannot be
installed in all areas. In his opinion, both in terms of its price
and coverage provision, the WiMAX standard is more suitale for use
in Armenian rural areas remote from the main optico-fiber cables.