3G Decision a Positive Sign for India?
By Abhinna Shreshtha
Mumbai, Aug 13, 2008

The Indian government took its time but finally the 3G policy is out. Care seems to have been taken to design a framework that will cater to all, while bringing about the next phase of growth in the Indian telecom sector.

So what does the advent of 3G foretell for India?

The biggest advantage of 3G would be Value Added Services (VAS). Effectively it means that we are talking of all broadband rich applications on mobile. Thus when it comes to a common man, 3G would be useful from entertainment, education, healthcare to basic utility services," said Madhusudan Gupta, senior research analyst for Gartner.

It is a view that is further echoed by M.D. Agarwal, deputy GM (Information Systems) of BPCL. He said, "3G will bring with it increase in mobile transactions, improved multimedia services, and improve the mobility of the workforce."

However, he did caution that the government should try to make it cost effective and insure that benefits of the technology are available to all. "We can learn a lot from countries like China, South Korea, and Japan," he said.

Another advantage, according to Rajesh Chandel, deputy GM (marketing & business development) of Alcatel-Lucent India is that 3G can be instrumental in alleviating the spectrum crunch, especially in the urban areas, where there is not enough 2G spectrum to fuel the aggressive growth in mobile services. "The 3G policy paves the way for high-speed mobile connectivity in the country. It represents the next step in the evolution of mobile telephony, offering enhanced capacity and efficiency than the current 2G systems," said he.

Giving foreign operators an option to bid for license is also a good thing, according to Gupta, as the bid for license has become more competitive. Gupta feels that this will lead to a substantial premium over the base price of the license fee.

The entry of new (global) players will help the end customer get good service as well as bring in global best practices which these players are experienced in. This will also help existing operators to raise their standards of services," said Chandel.


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