Nigerian private telecommunications operator Startech Communications has almost completed the roll-out of a WiMax project in Abuja to meet the needs of the country's growing telecoms subscriber base. The commercial launch of the project will take place within two weeks.
This is according to Oyaje Idoko, manager at Startech, who explains that the operator is using the BreezeMax 3500 version of WiMax, designed from the ground up. It follows IEEE 802.16 standards and Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing (OFDM) technology for advanced non-line-of-sight functionality.
OFDM is a spread spectrum technique, which combines good noise resistance, immunity to reflections and efficient use of the spectrum, says Idoko.
He adds that the company's decision to deploy WiMax is borne out of the need to take advantage of the features the technology has to offer.
"The system supports broadband speeds enabling 'triple play' (audio, video and data) services to thousands of subscribers."
Large data capacity
Aside from having a large data capacity, the technology is able to support global standards for telecommunications, which will drive down the costs of customer premises equipment and enable interoperability of different vendor equipment, says Idoko.
"A global standard will simplify the equipment vendor process, reduce costs, speed up customer acceptance and adoption, and encourage faster product and service innovation."
Idoko says the operator has deployed two base stations targeting residential Internet users, around the areas where SOHOs, small to medium enterprises and large corporations are located.
"We are targeting about 10 000 Internet users and about a million voice customers around the Federal Capital territory."
Plans are also under way to start the roll-out in the five other states where Startech is licensed to operate, which include Kaduna, Kano, Plateau and Nassarawa.
Idoko says the roll-out costs have been driven up by the lack of sufficient electricity generated by the national power utility, which is a typical obstacle experienced by the Nigerian telecoms industry.
"The over-dependence on alternative sources of power due to the unreliability of power generation from the national source has driven up roll-out costs through high margins."
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