We’ve just covered the Empowered Group of Ministers nailing the 3G price at 3,500 cr, and with it, we’ve hopefully seen the last of the ups and downs that symbolised the 3G saga. The eGoM has settled down with final base price of Rs. 3,500 crore for the 3G spectrum. The auction is expected to be done with by November. Now, barely a week has elapsed since then that Bharti Airtel has announced plans of launching 3G-enabled services by October 2010. “If everything goes well on time with regard to spectrum auction, by February or March we will have spectrum allocation. By next Diwali (2010), we will have commercial launch of 3G services in India,” Bharti Airtel CEO Manoj Kohli said.
Of late, there’s been quite some talk in the newspapers about 3G, its positives and negatives. We mostly know about the positives, the potential it has to expand the Mobile VAS industry, the fast connectivity, the eventual reliance of the Internet on the Mobile Platform, all that has been covered. Nokia recently launched a 3G Netbook (thought that will take longer to reach India) 3G now connects a lot of cities in the West and with the Government focused on connecting all of India, including the rural, 3G technology should get a huge push.
However, there are some who believe that pricing 3G at such a high base price might prove to be a deterrent. Since it’s not just the base price, but an auction, the net national rollout for the industry could be well over 10,000 crores. So at what rates can you expect this new high-speed connectivity? Also, the fact that current 3G services are not performing very well could imply any of the two obvious inferences. One, that BSNL and MTNL have not done their marketing right. Or two, a more terrifying prospect, that the average Indian user does not really care too much about 3G technology.
The high cost of a 3G compatible handset could also prove to be a major deterrent. An article in the Hindu Businessline went as far as to suggest the following “The enthusiasm of the existing players to procure 3G licenses can only be to pick up spectrum that is scarce for their existing 2G voice services. Instead of providing premium data services which currently do not have a big market anyway, they could well use the spectrum for the plain old voice communication, the demand for which continues to expand quickly.”
On the other hand, the same newspaper ran an editorial stating how the 3G base price was fair. It includes comments and observations by several members involved with the telecom industry. The full article is available here.
However long the debate may rage, one thing is for certain. Bharti Airtel obviously not overly concerned over the price. The decision to launch 3G services by October 2010 may come as a relief to several tech enthusiasts. Airtel (along with Vodafone) is one of the companies authorised to sell the Apple iPhone 3G in India. And fast easy inexpensive mobile internet maybe the new watchword. Hopefully Bharti Airtel can correct the mistakes MTNL and BSNL made in marketing their services. Let us know your opinion, will 3G technology catch on in India – will you get yourself a 3G phone and connection? How much are you willing to pay for high-speed reliable connectivity?
3G from any of the private players will be a big hit. Its just not tech people who can use 3G for internet, its common people who can have video telephony. Dont go by what BSNL and MTNL have achieved with 3G. Its not even worth talking about the effeciency of BSNL and MTNL. Just wait and watch and see what 3G launched by private players will do in India.
according to my view 3g tech will catch on though it may take time..currently mobile internet gives you a very bad experience in terms of speed still people r using it due to its easy availability esp in non metros n rural areas. the pricing is an issue as we Indians r most price conscious but within a span of 2 yrs prices will go down similar to voice call rate which is min in India due to large user base.
BSNL/MTNL has totally failed due to its marketing..i from now onward will look forward to airtel launching 3g in 2010 but i dont know when bsnl launched 3g,how to aquire the connection and use it..bsnl/mtnl r simply loosing their first mover advantage..even bsnl/mtnl 3g user base will increase at high rate when airtel n other corporate will start their marketing efforts.
@Murali, I totally agree with you on this. US and UK have started to work on 4G and so does China along with Taiwan. And India doesn’t have 3G even.
And what’s ironic is that we have all the 3G compatible phones in the market which are sold like hot cakes. Most of the mobile users probably don’t even know what all they could do using their phone.
Lets hope we will have 3G from Airtel by October 2010. Amen
3g must come at the price of gprs not more then that.
Its high time India moved to 4G instead of 3G.
I have MTNL 3G with me and i am quite satisfied with it
But the only problem I face is that I can’t make a video call from my room I have to reach the balcony for that. Same goes with high speed internet. Although my home is in the 3g zone I have to pull a chair in balcony to use it.
One more thing while browsing in a 3G zone, icon for 3.5G is shown So I suppose that MTNL is giving 3.5G.
world has 3G since age now they are are moving to 4G.
its perhaps right to move to 4G skipping 3G all together …
Till this date we are calling US,UK…etc as a developed countries after launching the 3g in India, India also goes in the list of developed countries.
only one word to say,for better development of the country 3g plays a key role.
we indians need 3g very quickly especially from airtel… they must start 3g service before august……
3G service is too costly……….BSNL,MTNL are taking to much money from 3g users,as i am paying Rs.650 permonth for just 6GB data….. speed is best,but too costly………….
highly awaiting 3G service of airtel..