Saturday, October 28, 2006

Bite to offer fixed wireless broadband?

Bite Latvija will probably offer some kind of fixed wireless broadband service, probably based on HSDPA at the same time it announces broadband roaming with Vodafone Mobile Connect. The new new thing at Bite will be called Bite Hotspot and is a product for home and office use. It sound very much like a WiFi and HSDPA combo unit, but not the product Mikrotiks was developing. That is still on the way, though not specifically for Bite, as there is a market for this kind of wireless broadband in other countries, although the Latvian-assembled device could also be a low cost alternative to whatever gadget Bite will use intially.
This also might be a signal that the pricing of fixed HDSPA services will not be at some high flat rate like LVL 50 per month, but more likely at a price competive with Triatel's 1 Mbps wireless internet and comparitive wireline services (this will be an urban product). So with Triatel going for around LVL 20 per month and Lattelecom offering 5 Mbps plus free telephony in Latvia for around LVL 17, even LVL 25 for 3.6 Mbps (max) will be pricey, unless the gadget lease is included.
What it boils down to is that wireless internet of 1 Mbps+ speed is becoming a commodity differentiated only by quality of service in the medium and long term (a test Bite HSDPA unit I have, with a borrowed Windowsyuck– laptop is running OK, topping 2 Mbps from time to time). Even wireline speeds can get weird now and again. As I see it, broadband in urban areas will be available everywhere, directly wireless or from a very fast fixed connection feeding a home or office WiFi network. It will simply be there as a background hum that you can join for around LVL 20 a month (less for the home network location or office).

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