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Since the first commercial launch of 3G by NTT DoCoMo in Japan in 2001, 3G technology has been widely adopted by many countries across globe. As I have mentioned in another post, in India, 3G services were brought by the two state-run telecom services providers – Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL) and Mahanagar Telephone Nigam Limited (MTNL) during the first quarter of this year (2009). The 3G service was made available in selected cities of India but the dreams of both telcos to build a large 3G customer base have been smashed already and MTNL has invited expressions of interest from Indian and foreign companies to run its 3G services in India in a franchise arrangement.

During July 2009, a senior executive at Bharat Sanchar Nigam (BSNL) said on condition of anonymity, “We are going all out to build our 3G network and operations across the country and grow our subscriber base. But over the next few months, if we don’t attract enough subscriber numbers, we may consider a strategy similar to that of MTNL”

The Government of India decided to roll out a 3G auction but the auctions have been bound up in bureaucratic red tape, a tape that's about to be cut. According to Total Telecom, the Indian government will, by the end of this week, announce the date for a conference to seek the interests of potential bidders in the auction of radio bandwidth for third-generation, or 3G, mobile services.

So what now?

MTNL and Qualcomm have recently partnered on a technical audit of MTNL's 3G network aimed at giving consumers a better 3G service. According to RSP Sinha, chairman and managing director of MTNL, "We were keen on partnering with a vendor-independent and trusted consultant to add value to our 3G network by carrying out a technical audit of the same.”

According to very recent news, mobile phone firms, which will only provide 3G services, may have to pay 3% of their annual revenue to the government as a spectrum usage fee, while existing operators offering high-end services will have to give an additional 1% of their revenue.

Auctions are the key

According to Bharat Exhibitions, “Public Operators have already been allotted 3G airwaves and the auction of 3G Spectrum to Private Operators is expected very soon. Over 400 million people in India now own mobile phones and voice is increasingly becoming a commodity coupled with the fact that 3G is increasingly becoming synonymous with value added applications. All the leading operators in India are vying for the 3G spectrum & licences and preparing to leverage the enormous growth through introduction of advanced services that target an enormous market. Indian's find new technology exciting - Huge investments are being planned by Network Operators for the launch of 3G services in India & significant opportunities exist for Operators, Network Infrastructure Providers, Handset Manufacturers, technological solution providers and multimedia & mobile value added services providers on a 3G platform - As third generation mobile subscriber base in India is expected to reach 90 million by 2013.”

WATMedia believes that “the future of 3G enabled netbooks seems bright in India. Although other players in the market like Dell and Nokia have already launched the 3G-enabled netbooks but they are yet to make their presence in India. Though the concept of 3G enabled netbooks is good, but the configuration provided by the Tata Teleservices is pretty low compared to other netbooks in the market. Moreover, this is TTSL’s 1st ever notebook and so there would definitely be some trust issues initially. With people in India more inclined towards Dell and moreover, Dell and MTNL have tied up to offer 3G netbooks in India, it would be interesting to see how the X-series of TTSL and Olive  compete with others. “

The 3G India 2009 Conference 

Bharat Exhibitions’s upcoming conference, 3G India 2009, will focus on laying a roadmap for India's 3G. It's expected to showcase a bright future of third generation technologies and services in India. Along with bringing to the fore various policy issues affecting the deployment of 3G in India it will also address how money can be made out of delivering 3G services and how revenues generated should be shared between the various parties involved. 3G India 2009 will offer a powerful forum to understand what service will provide the most value to the user and also the technical issues that need to be considered to ensure the success of 3G strategies in India. - 3G India 2009

All the major telecom operators like Bharati, Vodafone and Tata have their fingers crossed and are desperately waiting for auctions to happen. According to A. Raja, Telecommunications Minister, “The auction of bandwidth for 3G mobile-phone offerings and broadband services based on the worldwide interoperability for microwave access, or WiMAX, technology will be completed within three months”.

[Image Source 1], [Image Source 2]