Financial Times

Unlicensing WiFi would enable quicker bridging of digital divide
By Akhry Ameer
Sri Lanka would experience a greater pace in bridging the digital divide by unlicensing the internationally accepted WiFi (Wireless Fidelity) frequency bands used to access Internet or network connections without wires. A recent research by LIRNE Asia finds that countries in the region that have unlicensed WiFi frequencies are connecting rural parts quickly due to the cost-effectiveness of the technology.

In Sri Lanka, WiFi is still used to connect users wirelessly to private networks or the Internet within a limited area of up to 15km known as ‘hotspots’. Although encouraged by the global WiFi Alliance for countries to unlicense the 2.4GHz and 5GHz frequencies and allow for free usage the Telecommunications Regulatory Commission (TRC) of Sri Lanka hasn’t yet done so. This has restricted these frequencies being limited to access the Internet only at the airport; public places like coffee houses and shopping malls; and some offices.

As the WiFi bands are licensed to fewer operators it is technically illegal for Internet Service Providers (ISP) and community organizations to use this technology to connect rural areas of the country. WiFi networking technology is cheaper than wired networks as it alienates the need for laying cables to provide last mile access from the main fibre optic cables to homes and other institutions that need Internet access. Since many countries have already unlicensed these frequencies the popularity of this technology unit costs for equipment to connect through these frequencies has lowered unit costs dramatically.

“WiFi deployment in Indonesia is extensive and covers more than 40 towns and cities in a number of different islands,” according to Divakar Goswami, lead researcher at LIRNE Asia. Indonesia recently unlicensed the 2.4GHz band for use by WiFi networks. Similar growth is beginning to take place in India and Bhutan, the least developed country in the South Asia region as a result of unlicensing. In Indonesia ISP’s have made use of WiFi technology creatively to overcome an issue of high costs involved deploying leased lines – high capacity cables that are rented out for exclusive use by ISP and other organizations that require broadband Internet access.

The ISP’s have used WiFi as a substitute to connect remote parts to the nearest high capacity fibre-optic backbone or leased line circuit to bring down prices. Annual leased line costs for a 2MB link for 2km is around US$18,000 as against US$376 and US$6,518 for India and Sri Lanka, respectively. This learning could also be applied to Sri Lanka according to the researchers in place of high-cost alternatives like satellite links employed by ISP’s and telecom operators.

A local case for the unlicensing of the wireless frequencies has also arisen in the village of Mahavilachchiya off Anuradhapura. This village was unheard of until the launch of the eSriLanka initiative. The village through the efforts of a single individual saw the growth in usage of computers by children. Today, with 50 computers the village children are sometimes breadwinners of their families developing websites for foreign clients. Mahavilachchiya's success story has attracted international funding and support in various forms. However, the children still have to travel to their school to connect to the Internet that was established through funding. Although new funding has been committed to connect the 50 computers in the homes of the children through WiFi, an annual license fee of Rs. 55,000 to operate a wireless Internet network is restricting its implementation.

A recent development of the WiFi technology is WiMAX (Worldwide Interoperability for Micro Wave Access), which is used to provide broadband connectivity to customers by using microwaves. This technology enables voice, high speed Internet connectivity, email, fax, data and services such as audio and video streaming. WiMax uses 3.5 GHz frequency band and is used widely in India, Thailand, and the Philippines. This technology is particularly used to provide broadband data (or Internet) connectivity to remote areas. As opposed to WiFi, which covers a 15km range, WiMAX reaches up to 50km enabling to provide coverage a city with a single antenna.

Locally, Sri Lanka Telecom (SLT) recently announced testing of WiMAX technology with temporary frequencies obtained from TRC. If successful, Sri Lanka will witness a spurt of new Internet users and possibly alternative services such as digital television according to SLT officials. However, the commercial deployment of such a network rests on TRC approval.

Back to Business