A COMPARISON OF WIRELESS LOCAL LOOP WITH COMPETING ACCESS TECHNOLOGIES

It is important to remember that wireless local loop (WLL) is in compe tition with other fixed access technologies. There are a number of dif ferent access techniques which are emerging, including techniques whic h enhance basic copper cables, such as ISDN and xDSL, new forms of cab le, such as coax and fibre, video distribution systems and alternative means of delivering voice and data, such as mobile radio and digital television broadcasting. All these are competing with wireless local l oop to provide a convergent service whereby voice, data and television are provided through the same access medium. This paper provides some details about each of the different access technologies, makes predic tions about their future success, and examines the likely future of WL L in tomorrow's access technology market-place.