Bridging digital divide in Malaysia using low cost WiMAX-WiFi multi-hop network

An integrated multi-tier, multi-hop WiMAX-WiFi network is seen as a promising solution to provide fast and low cost broadband access to places where the wired infrastructure is not ready or is too expensive. This paper investigates the potentials of deploying such network in rural Malaysia. The role of IEEE802.16 (WiMAX) WMAN technology is basically to provide backhaul support i.e. carry traffic from various access nodes to the gateway and hence the Internet, while the IEEE802.11 WLAN (WiFi) provides access service to the end users. This paper provides some insights on the capacity and coverage and performance of the proposed architecture. Its capability to provide multimedia services is also investigated using a representative village scenario in Malaysia.