India Broadband Forum

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Indian mobile users were eagerly awaiting the arrival of the 3G network to enjoy the broadband speed in the mobile network. 3G network was originally expected to be launched in January 2009. However, as per the official news, the auction dates for 3G spectrum in India has been postponed further. The auction was scheduled initially for 16 January. Now it has been moved to 30th of January to give more time to the bidders. This has disappointed many 3G fans. BSNL mobile was getting ready to launch the services and it would have been the first one to introduce 3G network to India while Airtel and Vodafone where the first one’s to sell iPhone 3G in the Indian market.

There are rumors that the auction date is likely to be postponed further to mid February leaving more disappointed 3G enthusiasts. There is also going to be an increase in the price. The minimum bid price is likely to be doubled as per the latest news. As per the possible new price, the minimum bid will be over 40 billion rupees. This will also increase the cost of enjoying the 3G facilities in our mobiles.

Auction is just one aspect of the introduction of the 3G network to India. There is much more crucial aspect that is still pending which is freeing up of the required 3G spectrum. Only when this spectrum is freed up and released the winning bidder will be able to launch the service. There is likely to be a delay in this regard too. It looks like that India has a very long wait before it can enjoy the mobile broadband surfing. The iPhones bought by 3G enthusiasts at a huge sums of money are to be shelved and stored safely to avoid losing the new looks when the 3G network really is made available to the Indian mobile users.

However, to mark the arrival of 3G network in India, the service was already launched in select cities and it is currently limited to Central Delhi on 12th of December 2008. MTNL has planned to spend over 4 billion rupees in extending its 3G services to Delhi and Mumbai.

Since the private operators are still waiting for their licenses to use the 3G spectrum, their hands are very badly tried. The current delays should give the Government owned MTNL enough time to test its service without the interference of the private operators who will try to take over the market.

We will be able to know the tariffs of the 3G services only after the completion of the auction. Even MTNL has not released its tariffs and it is most probably waiting for the private operators to come in to see how they are pricing the services. Since the private operators have to bear the burden of the overhead costs, it is still a question whether their 3G tariffs are going to be competitive with compared to MTNL tariffs.

mickey

3g has been so lately arriving in India, when its already a big time in most of the developed nations..

it promises data transfer at high rates than those of 2g. thats what the 3g is for...

but i am disappointed by the iphone...are there any good phones for this???

just4kix

Why are the 3G fees so high?

mickey

3g fees are high becuz new to India...

in other nations its normal...i think in 2 -3 years this will be changed too, just like what happend when mobiles were new to India...

but i think that 3g is bad in one sense..as the data speed is high and more encryption is done with a 3g netwrk, it maybe used for anti-India purposes too(

just4kix

No. No. I am talking about the license fees that DoT/Govt is charging to the operators.

mickey

hmmm, you know i think licence fees must be more than whats now...

they have so big India population to earn from, and see the services they provide us...

i think govt. must earn more from this service providers...license is the best way...


license rates must be increase by three folds...its around 14 crores if am not wrong..

Rameshjeee

This is a very bad news.I recently bought a 3G mobile hoping to enjoy 3G..
but i need to wait for some more time.
BSNL were saying that they will be launching 3G series next month in Chennai..

Preeti_20

dont worry, surely it will be launched one day! At least your prepared for it!

Admin

Being in Chennai is an advantage Bsnl is already running trials as far as I know in some areas of Chennai. When 3g is launched Chennai will be one of the first cities to be covered by 3g networks by bsnl

Preeti_20

so how many companies are launching 3g in India?

Rameshjeee

Even if BSNL brings 3G,i cant use it as iam using vodafone currently....
I am also waiting for this "Number Portability" to be introduced..Under this you can retain your number despite changing the service provider...I heard they will be implementing this by year end...

mickey

i dont think that it is going to happen in near future..
becuz all the players of our market give 0 customer satisfaction..
if bsnl is cheap its services are poor in rural places, if airtel and voda good they arent cheaper,...than there are the cdma and gsms..

so mixing up this and also when they will see that their own business if on fire, they wont get onto this trouble for themselves...