WiMax Operator's Manual

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CHAPTER 4 ■ SETTING UP PHYSICAL INFRASTRUCTURE 99 offerings and the necessary expenditures to support them and that indicates convincingly how they will be delivered profitably over the wireless infrastructure the network operator has selected. Avoid speculative leaps about “paradigm shifts” in subscriber practices or unfounded projections concerning demand for bandwidth, and try to base as much of the plan as possible on demonstrable fact. The plan must be flexible simply because high-speed access is such a volatile business, but at the same time it must embody clear objectives, not just in terms of achieving revenue goals but in building a business that will attract and retain desirable customers. Examining Return on Investment for Wireless Broadband Networks Calculating return on investment (ROI) for capital improvements within an established company can be difficult because of uncertainties in attributing changes in revenue or reductions in expenses to any single change in the organization. With a wireless startup the matter is otherwise because one is simply balancing the total expenditures required to launch and operate the network against total revenues derived from it. This being the case, calculating ROI should be fairly straightforward, but it rarely is with wireless broadband service providers—or with any other competitive carrier for that matter. One cannot know for a certainty what the take rate for the new service will be, one cannot know what churn will be, and one cannot know what installation costs will be, though one can make some fairly informed estimates there. Consistently, in the past, competitive service providers have grossly underestimated the cost of doing business and have relied on the capital markets to sustain them while they attempted to build out their networks. Such a business strategy is entirely untenable today and should not even be contemplated. Instead of aiming to build a pervasive footprint in one’s designated markets immediately and then sorting out the details of actually running the network, one should ensure that each link functions perfectly in the beginning, that customers’ needs are served in a timely manner, and that cost-containment measures are implemented from the onset. Above all, one should avoid costly improvisations serving some ill-defined business objective that undercuts the principal projects of the network. Unfortunate examples abound among the first generation of millimeter microwave service providers, most of which spent huge sums of money leasing T1 lines to provide temporary data services to key customers and to thereby establish a presence in a targeted market. Such a ploy did nothing to position the core services of the new service provider or to give the customer any reason to adopt the new wireless services. All it did was to inflate the customer numbers while ensuring that the wireless infrastructure would never be completed. One successful millimeter microwave network operator of my acquaintance told me that the secret of achieving profitability in wireless broadband was to build a business case for each major customer or group of customers and to calculate probable ROI on each. That way nebulous assumptions and meaningless generalizations are avoided, and the operator can make necessary adjustments in rollout plans on the fly without building up a huge unprofitable operation and then attempting to set it to rights.
100 CHAPTER 4 ■ SETTING UP PHYSICAL INFRASTRUCTURE Putting Strategic Planning in Perspective Strategic planning above all must be global, encompassing every major aspect of network operations. It should also be forward thinking with the establishment of long-term growth objectives for the network and a roadmap for achieving those objectives. No service offering should be contemplated without a clear idea of how it will be supported and delivered, and no expansion plans should be made without some plausible means of acquiring future facilities. As with any other business enterprise, as little as possible should be left to chance. At the same time it should be understood that any plan regarding a communications network, especially one founded by a startup, is ultimately provisional. Too much impinging on the operation cannot be predicted, including the progress of technology, the evolution of markets, and perhaps, most of all, changing patterns of usage. In the last analysis the network operator must be adaptable and alert to the earliest signs of a change in the communications landscape.
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WiMax Operator’s Manual Building
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This book is dedicated to my wife.
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Contents About the Author . . . . .
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■CONTENTS ix Performing Site Surv
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■CONTENTS xi Cyberwarfare . . . .
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About the Technical Reviewer ■ROB
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Introduction Broadband wireless has
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CHAPTER 1 ■ ■ ■ Wireless Broa
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CHAPTER 1 ■ WIRELESS BROADBAND AN
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14 CHAPTER 2 ■ ARCHITECTING THE N
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34 CHAPTER 3 ■ STRATEGIC PLANNING
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CHAPTER 6 ■ BEYOND ACCESS 149 out
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CHAPTER 6 ■ BEYOND ACCESS 151 som
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CHAPTER 7 ■ ■ ■ Service Deplo
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CHAPTER 7 ■ SERVICE DEPLOYMENTS O
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178 CHAPTER 8 ■ NETWORK MANAGEMEN
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CHAPTER 9 ■ ■ ■ Network Secur
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CHAPTER 9 ■ NETWORK SECURITY 189
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Index ■Numbers 2.4GHz to 928MHz b
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asic access and best-effort deliver
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■D dark fiber, features of, 75-76
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harmonics, impact on AC power, 188
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challenges to, 85-86 and NLOS, 121
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PONs (passive optical networks), fe
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signal diversity, providing with ad
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■V VDSL and entertainment service
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