Massive WiMax Network for India

An anonymous reader writes "Engadget reports that the largest Indian telecom company is planning to build a mobile WiMax network covering three states on the subcontinent capable of serving 250 million people. State-owned Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited is leaning on Soma Networks to build the broadband-speed network in response to government requirement that 20 million broadband lines be in service by 2010." Meanwhile I can't even get cable. Maybe it's time to move to India.

Tongue in cheek to the submitter

[Dunbal]

Maybe it's time to move to India.

      Why not. Your job already has.

Like mobile phones

[apathy maybe]

There is a good reason for under-developed countries like India not to invest in cabling. It is the same reason why such countries have so many mobile phones as compared to landlines.

Mobile phone towers are a lot cheaper to put up then running cables everywhere, they are a lot easier to upgrade, etc. (One reason why Japan and (West) Germany were able to do so well economically after WW2 was all the new equipment, all the old stuff having been bombed. Yes the money helped, but France got that money too...)

Anyway, good oh.

Re:Tongue in cheek to the submitter

[Alsn]

The first though that popped into my mind was instead the following:

Maybe it's time to start a web based company such as a store or a downloading service in india... ;)

Re:Meanwhile...

[Anonymous Coward]

XOHM (www.xohm.com) is coming *very* soon and will offer WiMAX across the US. Our WiMAX buildout will be complete long before India's is. Many parts of the network are already operational and many active (non-commercial) users are on the network today. Performance is also VERY good, better than advertised.

Re:Tongue in cheek to the submitter

[Dunbal]

It was a joke, silly, not a lament. I think India has come a LONG way in the past 20 years and I really hope that it fulfills its destiny as a major economic force in the world in the near future. I personally am anti-US or perhaps more specifically anti-Bush, and snigger every time the US has another finger slip from its tenuous position as the "world leader". But, yet again we have demonstrated that it's very difficult to effectively transmit sarcasm over the internet.

Re:Like mobile phones

[freedom_india]

Unfortunately mobile towers have the least redundancy in disaster times.
All mobile towers have a 99% utilisation in india.
It means if all the mobile users dial at the same time, you get a network busy tone. Heck i get a network busy tone about 30% of the time.
During a storm the mobile network is the first to fail.

Meanwhile the landline is the strongest network india has.
If the power goes off, the generators in the exchanges run it for 24 hours, and even if they fail, the batteries keep them for another 14 hours.
The generators are topped off with fuel almost weekly.

The mobile towers run on batteries for 7 hours max. After that they start dropping off one by one.

Re:Wimax or infrastructure

[superash]

This is exactly the kind of bullshit that I cannot take. Your sister comes to India and expects everything here to be like USA(going by your contact info at your homepage)? Would you have taken the same kind of comment from me if I was in the US and was asking for something that we Indians did over here? You would've have said -" If you want that then stay the fuck in your country". So, you get my point.

Re:Tongue in cheek to the submitter

[PaneerParantha]

That's false.

And has been shown to be so many times over here.

1. The latest example of a foreigner working in India is Mr. Gary Kirsten (http://content-usa.cricinfo.com/southafrica/content/player/45813.html), the Indian cricket coach. The two coaches before him were Australian and New Zealander respectively.

2. Australian cricketers routinely accept advertising contracts (and in one case a movie role) in India.

3. There are backpackers from Europe working in call-centers.

Your statement is not grounded in facts at all.

Lobbyists Lobbyists Lobbyists

[Tablizer]

Meanwhile companies back here in the US cry and sob that there are no ready-made senior-level employees for them to hire for rates far below the level that the self-created scarcity of such labor should command, since they shipped all the entry level positions overseas and can no longer find and promote their own talent from within.

It's called "lobbying". The lobbyists paint a picture of poorly-educated Americans so that Congress etc. will let them offshore and get more visa workers who work more hours for less money. It's part of their plan and so far they are getting away with it because there is no coordinated counter-voice. Studies by respected organizations have repeated shown no general "sci/tech shortage". The bottom line: It's all a lie.
   

Re:Wimax or infrastructure

[jalfreize]

Recently, I came to the US as a grad student, and was shocked that the US has no running water in their toilets.
They actually use pieces of paper!!!
Thats soo lame, not to mention yucky!!! ughhh...

Re:Tongue in cheek to the submitter

[mi]

Yes, because "freedom of speech" means something different in your country.

Nope, "freedom of speech" means exactly the same here as it always has. You are free to proclaim your hatred, we are free to deny you entry.

I enjoy free travel across borders (it's one of the human rights you know)

No, it is not, unfortunately.

don't want to be locked up on "terror" charges for speaking my mind.

Has not happened to anyone yet — don't overestimate your importance. Even burning the flag (incredibly offensive and banned in many other countries) is still legal here...

Meanwhile I'll just keep taking your money on Wall Street.

You mean, you'll continue to participate in our markets? Great — we welcome all kind...