US companies - Syniverse Technologies and Telcordia Technologies were recently awarded the contract to provide mobile number portability (MNP) solutions for the Indian mobile phone users by the telecom ministry. I would say the telecom ministry has a lot of difficult decisions to make in these tough times and it is good that they have not postponed the decisions like they did for the 3G auctions.
Now that the general elections are around the corner, the decision on 3G would be taken by a new government at the center and it can be safely said that 3G would take a long time from now in India. While I was looking at this topic I came to know that India was one of the first countries to start the 3G spectrum allocation process by holding a beauty pageant more than 10 years ago. So its a record of sorts that it has taken more than 10 years to still not get the 3G stuff rolling. 3G has been launched by state corporations - BSNL and MTNL in select cities - the number growing rapidly. This has been enabled by the government as the state corporations have their spectrum ready without the need to bid in auctions. Users who want a taste of 3G can switch to BSNL service once it is available in their city. It looks like the service in its current state would cost Rs.2500 ( about USD 50 ) per month for their first taste of 3G. The rate can be expected to climb down once the other players too can roll out their services. However, with the high sums the government is expecting to make from the 3G auctions, it is going to be difficult to offer users cheaper rates.
Now that the general elections are around the corner, the decision on 3G would be taken by a new government at the center and it can be safely said that 3G would take a long time from now in India. While I was looking at this topic I came to know that India was one of the first countries to start the 3G spectrum allocation process by holding a beauty pageant more than 10 years ago. So its a record of sorts that it has taken more than 10 years to still not get the 3G stuff rolling. 3G has been launched by state corporations - BSNL and MTNL in select cities - the number growing rapidly. This has been enabled by the government as the state corporations have their spectrum ready without the need to bid in auctions. Users who want a taste of 3G can switch to BSNL service once it is available in their city. It looks like the service in its current state would cost Rs.2500 ( about USD 50 ) per month for their first taste of 3G. The rate can be expected to climb down once the other players too can roll out their services. However, with the high sums the government is expecting to make from the 3G auctions, it is going to be difficult to offer users cheaper rates.
0 comments:
Post a Comment