Techno-economic considerations of wireless basic telephony in a wireline environment-the case of the developing nations

With the emergence of a new era in information transfer heralded by the information highway, the telecommunications industry has begun looking at the access network as a possible framework for telephone service proliferation. While fibre connections remain as the preferred choice for the ultimate missing link, wireless telephone systems (WTS) are being considered to be an alternative to the copper-based access network. Because the wireless access network can be provisioned relatively quickly at a lower cost than the copper alternative, operators in both developed and developing countries have begun to evaluate WTS more seriously. This paper examines the opportunities that WTS provides for the developing nations as well as the technical and economic factors underlying its mass deployment in the basic services market. In the process, it addresses a variety of questions including (for example). Is the wireless solution a permanent one? Can it work with the existing wireline network? Does it provide a cost-effective solution? Is it upgradable to meet the needs of the diverse service demands? The resolution of these and other questions increasingly point towards the wireless access network as the way of the future for basic telephony in the developing nations.