Unwiring the MSC: Mesh-Wireless Corridors

Wireless has also proven to be the technology of choice in deploying mainstream data networks in emerging markets around the world where cost plays a very important role. Wi-Fi's benefits (use of open spectrum, high-speed, rapid deployment) make it an excellent candidate for building out the Phase 2 corridors as envisaged and recorded under the original MSC roadmap. Wireless data networks are essential in our efforts and dreams of building out a connected nation by the year 2020. We can begin by spreading the MSC wirelessly across villages, towns and cities all over Malaysia.

Blueprint Borneo: How to unwire the MSC

Malaysians are obsessed with their mobile phones. Millions of people around Malaysia have their handphones (the local term for modern 2.5G GSM handsets)with them at all times. The teens are giving telcos a reason to smile with their addiction to SMS technology, again a seemingly common, and unglamourous technology compared to 3G technology, with all the hype and billions of dollars paid by those for licences from governments all over the world. SMS, or text messaging has already become a worldwide hit quietly and with minimum fuss, without all the marketing hype associated with 3G so much so that most have become desensitised to the technology (except in Japan where 3G networks have been deployed and used since 2000).

Text messaging is a hit in Malaysia because it is affordable, simple to use and widely available. The device on which Malaysians receive and send SMS is also the tool/gadget of choice whether you're a teenager, student or sucessful professional/corporate player.

The first step is for the Government to ensure that the open spectrum of 2.4 Ghz and 5.7 Ghz can be used freely for data communications without requiring any licences. This will provide the necessary impetus for entrepreneurs to come in and start building out the networks.

The second step is for vendors to make the Wi-Fi network cards and hubs widely available. They need to think in terms of Wi-Fi as becoming a mainstream technology, with volumes which could exceed those of the developed markets, where it is one of several competing technologies.

The third step is for the various states within the nation to actively begin deploying Wi-Fi (municipal offices, cybercafes and post offices can serve as the initial "hotspots"). Residential and office complexes can do the same with forward thinking property developers taking the initiative already. What this does is two things: it enables connectivity at much higher-speeds than what is available today, and creates the platform for Wi-Fi-enabled mobile devices.

The fourth step is for these networks to be connected together to build out a virtual wireless MSC, enabling all Malaysians to connect onto and benefit from the MSC infrastructure.

The fifth step is for the development of low-cost, mobile devices/computers like the PC Gemilang or TAPs (more later).

The final step in this roll-out would be for content developers and enterprises to start putting together applications which leverage the devices. One has to think of innovative ways in which millions of users can now interact together with high-speed devices. This is what 3G hopes to capitalise on. But 3G is a top-down, carrier-driven technology which will take time to roll-out, and will be much more expensive. By comparison, Wi-Fi is bottom-up and can become affordable for the masses very rapidly. It can help respective cities in the different states of Malaysia leapfrog with a high-speed wireless infrastructure which can be an enabler for new applications and productivity enhancements.

This is our opportunity to experience a true Wireless Renaissance: a Malaysia where bandwidth for voice and data is not constrained and we have a ubiquitous communications network. A Malaysia where computing is available for all at prices everyone can afford and where just the right information is delivered to us in real time.

Wireless technologies promises that this vision is within reach - today. Serving rural/underserved areas remaining a strong emphasis and reason to use wireless in the fight for affordable, fast, universal access to the Internet. Communities in developing countries, and in remote regions of first-world countries, are finding that broadband internet access is the key to turning around their business, education and personal opportunity.

Unwiring the MSC to cover the whole nation with a strong focus on providing affordable computing and communication tools and services to our communities is about providing a practical tool for businesses and community groups to boot-strap themselves into the digital community and reap the economic benefits of the MSC initiative. Once the MSC and broadband internet is available throughout the country, the profile of Malaysian business, education and personal communication will be dramatically enhanced, and the economic formula for the nation has more positive value. Attracting capital, visitors and new residents is much easier when broadband internet services are available, making some of the most beautiful and tropical places in the world like Malaysia an attractive place to work and live...for wasn't that the intention of the MSC in the first place?

Mesh in Malaysia - A Wireless Renaissance

The birth of the Internet has been interpreted by many as a revolution. The arrival of 802.11 technology (Wi-Fi) a few years ago (in the shape of Apple Computer's Airport base station) seemed harmless enough. After all, the performance of 802.11b technology wasn't all that crash hot, range of 150-200 feet max, no big deal.

The big deal is that we are now most certainly in the age of a grassroots revolution in wireless communications, especially for data. Its already happening in cities and countries around the world where one can roam around a certain geographical area free from wires and still access the Ethernet (and therefore, the Internet) at high-speeds. These Wireless Local Area Networks (LANs) are only one part of how Wi-Fi can be used. The emergence of mesh-wireless networking technologies lie in the ability of mesh networks to string together many such LANs and build a wide-area network, just like the Internet was built in its early days. The difference: this one needs no wires, giving end users complete freedom and mobility. Since it uses open spectrum, this also means the costs involved in building this out are very low.

Which is why it might be more useful for Malaysia to understand this “wireless revolution” as an opportunity for renaissance: a moment when we have the ability to step out of the story altogether.

Renaissances are historical instances of widespread re-contextualisation, where communities in a variety of different arts, philosophies and sciences have the ability to reframe their reality. Renaissance literally means ‘rebirth’. It is the rebirth of old ideas in a new context whereas a “revolution” denotes going around in a circle or replacing a story with another. Take a look back at what we think of as the original Renaissance, the one we were taught in school. Most of the main features of the Renaissance involved shifts in perspective.

Circumnavigation of the globe altered our understanding and interpretation of the relationship between the planet we live on and the maps we used to describe it. The maps still worked, they just described a globe instead of a plane. Anyone hoping to navigate a course had to be able to relate a two-dimensional map to the new reality of a three-dimensional planet.

Similarly, the Multimedia Super Corridor (MSC) was Malaysia’s map towards a gleaming future in which the nation attains developed nation status. The MSC was conceptualized back in 1996 as “Malaysia’s most exciting initiative for the global information and communication technology (ICT) industry”. Nearly a decade has passed, yet the MSC remains a dedicated 15 X 50 km Corridor in West Malaysia stretching from the Petronas Twin Towers in the north to the Kuala Lumpur International Airport in the south.

It is time to re-group and re-evaluate this eight-year old idea/concept. The wireless revolution offers a very real possibility for the MSC map to encompass a new reality: one which encompasses and involve each and every citizen of Malaysia, especially communities in rural or underserved areas, to participate and realize the aim of our national MSC roadmap. It is time to extend the MSC beyond a myopic “15 x 50 km Corridor” definition and jumpstart Malaysia’s Wireless Renaissance.

It is time to unwire the MSC.

The Unlicensed World of Wireless
Unlicensed wireless is far more than WiFi. Dynamic techniques for efficient sharing of the spectrum, combined with the open field for unlicensed innovation are creating an explosion of new systems,techniques, and business models.

An important point here is that unlicensed does not mean unregulated. In the 2.4 GHz band, for example, the FCC mandates power limits and other technical requirements. New kinds of equipment that use different techniques than those already licensed must receive direct FCC approval.

The 2.4 GHz Industrial, Scientific, and Medical (ISM) band is open solely for unlicensed use. No devices that operate in that band—which range from the WiFi access points to microwave ovens and cordless phones—can claim protection against interference from other approved devices in the band.