DUSHANBE, October 29, Asia-Plus  -- The limited liability company Tacom, which provides cellular services in Tajikistan under the ‘Beeline’ brand, has announced the launch of the Wireless Internet Service Provider (WISP) project in the country.

The Tacom press service said they plan to carry out detailed analysis of commercial implementation of the project that will allow them determining more precisely demands customers’ needs and offering called-for product.   

KN IBRAKOM head Mr. Najib Ashraf, representing international transport company Ibrakom FZCO in Tajikistan, was the first to use the WISP service.   

More than 2000 clients of Beeline in Tajikistan now use 3G standard service.   

Wireless Internet Service Provider (WISPs) are internet service providers with networks built around wireless networking .  Technology used range from commonplace Wi-Fi mesh networking or proprietary equipment designed to operate over open 900 MHz and 2.4 GHz bands or licensed frequencies in the UHF or MMDS bands.   

WISPs often offer additional services, like location based content, Virtual Private Networking and Voice over IP.  Isolated municipal ISPs and larger state-wide initiatives alike are tightly focused on wireless networking.

WISP''s are predominantly in rural environments where cable and digital subscriber lines are not available.  WiMax is expected to become mainstream in the near future, bringing with it dramatic changes to the marketplace by increasing the number of interoperable equipment on the market and making mobile data transmission feasible, increasing the utility of such networks in rural environments. However, high-bandwidth wireless backhauls are already common in major cities, providing levels of bandwidth previously only available through expensive fiber optic connections.

Typically, the way that a WISP operates is to pull a large and usually expensive point to point connection to the center of the area they wish to service.  From here, they will need to find some sort of elevated point in the region, such as a radio or water tower, on which to mount their equipment.   

Modern wireless technology has comparable latency to other terrestrial broadband networks.

We will recall that on December 27, 2005, VimpelCom (Vimpel-Communications) announced the purchase of a 60% stake in Tajik cellular operator “Tacom” for $12 million. 

Tacom is licensed to provide cellular communication services in Tajikistan in the GSM-900/1800, UMTS, CDMA-450, and AMPS standards.

The VimpelCom Group includes cellular companies operating in Russia, Kazakhstan, Ukraine, Uzbekistan and Tajikistan, and recently acquired companies in Georgia and Armenia. The Company operates under the ''Beeline'' brand.  The VimpelCom Group’s cellular license portfolio covers 78 regions of Russia and the entire territories of Kazakhstan, Ukraine, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Georgia and Armenia.