Telcos set to roll out 3G services; welcome allocation

Telecom operators today cheered the government's move to allocate 3G spectrum, which will allow them to offer high-speed data services to subscribers, and said that they were set to roll out the next generation of mobile telephony across the country.

The government today amended licences authorising telecom operators to use allocated 3G air waves for commercial use.

The private operators -- Bharti Airtel, Vodafone, Reliance Communications (RCom), Tatas, Idea Cellular, Aircel and S Tel have been awarded 5 MHz of spectrum in each circle they won in the auction.

This had fetched the government over Rs 51,000 crore, apart from about Rs 16,000 crore from the two telecom PSUs -- BSNL and MTNL.

Welcoming the move, RCom CEO (Wireless Business) Syed Safawi said, "By releasing the 3G spectrum as promised, the government has paved the way for the next revolution in mobile telecommunications."

Echoing similar views, Vodafone Essar Director (Strategy) Samaresh Parida said, "We are pleased to receive the spectrum today. Our implementation is on schedule and we will launch our 3G services in a few months."

The government has authorised the operators to use the 3G spectrum for a period of 20 years from today, even if their telecom licences expire prior to that.

The government has imposed a roll-out obligation, under which the telcos would have to cover at least 90 per cent of the service areas in the metros within the next five years.

"As announced earlier, we have already placed orders for 3G network equipment. We will now closely work with our partners NTT DoCoMo to put our network and content in place,” a TTSL spokesperson said.

Another telecom operator Aircel confirmed the allotment of 3G air waves, but declined to comment on the details of service roll-out.

Telecom operators are betting big on roll-out of 3G services, which will provide subscribers access to high speed download of videos, music and other content. This is expected to further drive competition in the cellular telephony market, which is adding 15-16 million subscribers a month.

According to Trai, the total mobile subscriber base stood at 635.51 million for month ended June 2010.