Updated: 3G Auction completed after 34 days of bidding

[kshah 452]

But if we talk about number of subscribers world wide, 3G is still in infancy and also no one is able to provide good data speed except for NTT DOCOMO.

With about 1/4th of max suppored speed in 2G, I doubt how sucessful and efficient 3G in India wil be?

[Arun 795]

Wireless broadband providers may have to take licence test

19 Nov, 2007, 0242 hrs IST - Times News Network

In a move that has implications for telecom customers, the government plans stringent norms for wireless broadband services providers such as Bharti Airtel, Reliance Communications, Tata Indicom and MTNL. All companies seeking to offer broadband services would have to qualify a test to get or renew the licences.

The department of telecommunications (DoT) is planning to formulate a uniform national standard for broadband operations. All players in the field and those who wish to enter would have to conform to the standards. It is felt that standardisation would result in better services for broadband customers and smoother implementation for value added services like IPTV and VoIP (internet telephony).

“Licensing terms and conditions may also change in order to make such companies follow the standard norms,” a source associated with the development said, adding that the Telecom Engineering Centre (TEC) would prescribe test norms in consultation with the present stakeholders.

DoT will appoint a third party to assess whether the companies desirous of offering such services are adequately equipped. The assessment is usually done by conformity assessment bodies (CAB) which have the technical capability to carry out such reivews.

All broadband service providers would have to qualify a test given by the CABs. DoT would take appropriate action if the companies do not conform to the prescribed norms.

The move is expected to help the government in smoothly implementing the Next Generation Network (NGN) programme under which it has plans to increase the penetration of value-added services offered through the broadband route.

The government is keen to ensure smooth rollout for services like IPTV which are expected to be introduced on a large scale in the coming years. Officials said DoT is not happy with the problems being faced by users of the services due to poor inter-operatibility among service providers.

DoT has initiated discussions with the stakeholders and decisions would be taken only after taking all broadband service providers into confidence, he said.

[kesav 127]

EU governments agree to open GSM radio spectrum

Another potential breakthrough wrt 3G is brewing hot in Europe.

I think this is ad-hoc answer from HSDPA community to distrubtive frequency of 450 MHz(with its bare minimum capex requirement) approved by ITU for EvDO and WiMAX.

HSDPA community is really afraid of 450 MHz and its clealry seen by these acts.

I think its very difficult follow it India since 900 MHz is already occupied by GSM players through out India.

BRUSSELS, Nov 29 (Reuters) - European Union telecom ministers backed proposals on Thursday to open radio frequencies allocated exclusively for GSM mobile phone services to other technologies, such as third-generation (3G) mobile data.

The European Commission had in July proposed freeing access to the 900 MHz frequency, saying that doing so would make it easier and cheaper for mobile operators in the 27-nation bloc to offer wireless services.

The mobile phone industry has been pushing for regulators to open the airwaves.

A 3G network in the 900 MHz band would achieve up to 40 percent greater coverage than one in the 2,100 MHz band for the same capital expenditure, the GSM Association (GSMA), the global trade body for the mobile industry, said earlier this year.

The GSMA estimates an additional 300 million people across Asia, Europe and Africa would have access to mobile broadband services by 2012 if mobile operators could use a 900 MHz frequency spectrum for 3G services.

The proposal now needs to be approved by the European Parliament before ministers give their final green light.

The final decision would abolish a 20-year-old EU legislation.

Finnish telecom operator Elisa (ELI1V.HE: Quote, Profile, Research) opened earlier this month its 3G mobile services commercially in the 900 MHz radio frequencies, saying it was the first operator in the world to do this.

Elisa's Chief Executive Veli-Matti Mattila said the lower spectrum cuts network build-out costs by up to one third.

source :: http://investing.reuters.co.uk/news/articl...ryID=nL29892157

Edited November 29, 2007 by kesav

[kesav 127]

TRAI has decided to set up a Steering Committee to address issues involved in the implementation of Mobile Number Portability.

http://www.trai.gov.in/trai/upload/PressRe...3dec07no101.pdf

[kesav 127]

DoT committee to determine ‘economic value’ of spectrum

India’s department of telecommunications, or DoT, has constituted a new committee to ascertain economic value of radio spectrum for offering current and new generation of mobile services, as the government prepares to auction around 30MHz early next year for so-called third generation or 3G services and allocate about 20MHz to providers offering mobile phone services today after the country’s defence forces vacate frequency bands they are using.

The committee, which is expected to submit its report by this week, is headed by Manju Madhavan, member finance at DoT, and includes several other representatives from the wireless planning committee or WPC of the department. “The committee is looking at (the) mode for auctioning the 3G spectrum, minimum bid price, and lease period for the 2.1 GHz 3G spectrum apart from other related issues,” said an individual associated with the telecom industry and familiar with the development, who did not wish to be identified. Calls to Madhavan’s office for comment were not returned on Tuesday.

On 12 November, the government said only three telecom operators will initially be allowed to offer 3G services, which enable fast transfer of data and applications that require such data speeds such as Internet surfing on the move. “The country may eventually permit five,” D.S. Mathur, secretary at DoT, had then added. Apart from their bids, firms that win 3G licences will have to pay “additional spectrum charge of 0.5% of revenues to be shared as the recurring annual spectrum charge starting three years from the date of spectrum assignment,” DoT had then said in a statement.

“We are looking at how 3G auctions happened in Hong Kong and the UK very closely,” a senior DoT official who did not wish to be identified said. “We could lease spectrum anywhere from 10 to 15 or even 20 years, depending upon the final analysis (done by the committee).”

The committee is also looking at reserve prices or minimum bid price for the 3G auction. In its recommendations, the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India, or Trai, had said Rs80 crore each could be set as reserve price for those bidding to offer 3G services in Delhi and Mumbai, and Rs40 crore each for Kolkata and Chennai. In 2000, the UK earned around £22.5 billion by auctioning five 3G licences for 20 years.

While regulatory experts such as Mahesh Uppal say auctions are the best way to determine true economic value of spectrum, Trai views so-called ‘administrative incentive pricing’ or AIP as a credible proxy. “In AIP, we look at the capital expenditure required to set up telecom towers and additional infrastructure to support subscribers if additional spectrum is not allocated,” said a senior Trai official who did not wish to be identified.

Experts also want DoT to delink telecom licence from radio spectrum. “A pure telecom licence without spectrum could be priced around Rs200-300 crore instead of almost Rs1,650 crore being paid currently,” the Trai official added.

source :: http://www.livemint.com/2007/12/05001022/D...etermine-8.html

[kesav 127]

Its information on software radio or cognitive radio.

I don't know exactly where to post. Admins can move if you find appropriate location.

Vanu comes to India for push to 4G

Bangalore, Dec. 6 Taking research results from his PhD work at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology to fuel his own start-up eight years ago, Dr Vanu Bose helped create the mobile phone industry’s first solution that allows operators to switch from one standard — GSM — to the other — CDMA — swiftly, seamlessly, via software.

To take the offerings from the Cambridge (Mass.) US-based Vanu Inc, to the next level – that is 3G and 4G, he has turned to the land of his roots.

On Thursday, Dr Bose was in Bangalore to announce the setting up of an R&D centre in the city to address next-generation waveforms and technologies for wireless – from 4th generation cellular to WiMax broadband.

In a special briefing for Business Line on the sidelines of the official announcement, Dr Bose — son of Dr Amar Bose of Bose acoustics fame — explained why telecom operators worldwide would sooner or later have to cater to all competing standards – or fall by the way side.

“The ability to switch without hardware change, from CDMA to GSM or vice versa would be of great help to operators in India who are aspiring for spectrum in both technologies,” he said.

Radio tech revolution

The Vanu-Bose-led development called Anywave Software Radio has been hailed by the Federal Communications Commission - the telecom regulator for the US, as “the first step in what may prove to be a radio technology revolution”.

Mr John Chapin, Vanu’s Vice-President for Industry and Government Relations, who wears an additional as Chairman of the Software Defined Radio Forum, the SDR industry association, suggested that while SDR was not exactly new, it is being deployed in mainstream applications like cellular telephony only now.

Mr Pradeep Malhotra, Managing Director of Vanu India, explained that the small 7-member team of developers in Bangalore would be swiftly ramped up in 2008 to take on the task of extending Vanu software solutions up the mobile ‘value chain’ to 3G and 4G.

Do It Yourself

And also brewing at the parent company is new technology that will allow customers to Do It Yourself when it comes to creating a home base station: that is, creating a mini mobile network in the home — typically all over one’s property — so that a weak or wavering signal from the provider is enhanced and evenly distributed all over. You will not have to say “I can’t hear you properly, let me climb a coconut tree to get better reception!”

source :: http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/2007/1...20756861100.htm

Edited December 8, 2007 by kesav

[kesav 127]

I've pulled in this article mainly to highlight one aspect in auction of 3G spectrum.

All 3 technologies' (wimax,evdo & HSDPA) auction should and must run parallely.

The main intention is not to repeat the same mistakes which happened on 2G.

The auctioned price of one technology's spectrum should not applied on other's as proposed in issued guidelines.

That's purely illogical if you want to live up to the spirit of technology neutral approach.

NEW DELHI: The Indian telecom industry remains an underleveraged engine of economic growth, says a recent study. Of late, there’s been much improvement in teledensity.

From a dismal teleconnectivity of no more than 2 per 100 as late as 1998, the average teledensity is now around 20. The ongoing ‘telecom revolution’ has certainly increased efficiency economy-wide. But given the potential of the telecom sector to generate income, employment and tax revenue, there’s a strong case for further development of the industry and provision of wireless services. Also, there’s an urgent need for increasing teledensity in rural areas.

The Frost & Sullivan report says that the direct contribution of telecommunications sector to the economy has increased from 1.7% of GDP in 1997 to more than 2.7% in 2006. The indirect benefits would be far higher, such as making possible the delivery information-technology enabled services. The gross value added of the industry as a percentage of GDP has gone up from 0.8 in 2000 to 1.8 in 2006.

The sector with 106 services in the tax net accounts for a lion’s share of the service tax revenue, with collections adding up to Rs 5,186 crore in 2006. Estimates suggest that a 1% growth in the number of telephone subscribers leads to a growth of close to 2% in service tax revenues. There are other favourable correlations, such as those on incomes. However, to achieve the target of 650-million subscribers by 2012 calls for transparent and supportive policy, says the study. What’s required is ‘better management’ of spectrum, innovative methods to boost supportive infrastructure and incentives to rev up rural connectivity pan-India.

The study notes that shortage of spectrum forces service providers to increase costs by 25-50%, depending on the amount of spectrum required and the existing customer base. The ensuing cost structure could “transform into tariffs for subscribers”, says the report. Hence the need for efficient spectrum allocation. One possible way to bring about spectral efficiency is to add more subscribers in a given band of spectrum using new emerging technology ‘like micro or Pico cellular networks’. In any case, strategic spectrum review needs to be initiated as a matter of policy, it is opined.

The current method of spectrum allocation for wireless telecom is based on the criteria of subscriber base. The study recommends a new hybrid model, where a combination of ‘comparative selection’ and auctioning be used to bring about a ‘fair and transparent allocation policy’. Such a framework would ensure that all players “compete on a level-playing field”. It’s proposed that comparative selection be used for tier 1 service providers, where the criteria for selection could be rural coverage, quality of service and customer base.

In parallel, spectrum allocation for the 3G telecom services ought to be categorised into different sizes, as “licence can be valued differently”. Moreover, the suggestion is that simultaneous ascending auctions — with no undue favour for WiFi or other technologies — need to be pursued to ensure smooth and faster roll outs. From a rural telephony perspective, allowing ‘roaming’, so that new entrants have access to 2G networks, is key to providing value-added services.

Current licensing provisions bundle service licence with spectrum price, a factor which implies that an operator needs to pay for spectrum even when it is not required for particular services, such as voice. Hence the need for de-linking spectrum from licensing requirements.

In South Korea and the US, spectrum allocation is done in blocks, with strict use-it-or-lose-it policy in place, to prevent hoarding. Licencees who are allocated spectrum are required to commence operations within a specified period, provide services of a specified QoS, and are mandated to meet certain standards. We surely need such systems here.

Current infrastructure is not adequate to meet the needs of nearly 400-million additional subscribers, the report adds. It is welcome that for wireless services, there are 1,10,000 mobile base stations in place. But there is the need for about 1,00,000 towers to achieve the target subscriber base.

It makes sense for service providers to make ample use of the infrastructure sharing policy. Leasing helps players better manage growth and stagger investments. But the accounting consequences for lease, sale of goods and service rendering are different and affect the growth of passive infrastructure. Hence the need for appropriate accounting treatment and policy to boost infrastructure sharing.

Higher teledensity in rural areas would increase value-added teleservices. The study says e-health and telemedicine could reduce consultation costs by at least half. Also, a host of back-office processes could be gainfully outsourced to rural areas.

The key phrase is simultaneous ascending auctions

source :: http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/News/N...how/2602432.cms

[kesav 127]

There's one more technology coming up for 3G auction.

TD-SCDMA

Vavasi wants to deploy this technology. But their request to bracket this as 2G should be outright rejected.

Any new technology other than 800 MHz CDMA , 900 MHz/1800 MHz GSM has to be moved to auction process and has to be treated as 3G.

TD-SCDMA is already treated as 3G in China.

Now we've 4 technologies lined up for 3G.

1)HSDPA

2)EvDO

3)WiMax

4)TD-SCDMA

We've to go for simultaneous ascending auctions for all the above technologies.

NEW DELHI: After successful trial runs and having proved that the telecom services in the ‘guard band of the 1800 MHz’ does not interfere with the operations of existing GSM and CDMA players in the country, Vavasi Telegence, chaired by telecom consultant Sam Pitroda, has now sought that the Department of Telecom (DoT) allot it radio frequencies for launch of commercial operations.

Vavasi is of the of the view that its application should not be caught in the ongoing tussle for radio frequencies between service providers GSM and CDMA players, since it has applied for spectrum in the ‘guard band of the 1800 MHz frequency’, which is currently not used by any of the existing telecom players in India.

The company’s MD Farid Arifuddin told ET that Vavasi has lined up $6 billion in investments for a 100 million lines mobile network in the country. Vavasi has also tied up with handset vendors for mobile phones that can support this technological platform. The handset prices range from $20 to $700, Mr Arifuddin said.

“We have submitted results of the trial runs (done in MP) to the DoT, which have proved that mobile services in this frequency do not interfere with GSM and CDMA services. Vavasi, already runs a network in this frequency in Mongolia, with about 50,000 customers, and we are currently in the process of scaling this up to 250,000 lines. We hope to complete the process by June, 08,” Mr Arifuddin said. ‘We have received a positive response from the DoT,” he added.

ET had first reported that the DoT had granted the company trail spectrum in Madhya Pradesh. Vavasi though is confronted with a unique problem. The company had applied for a pan-India licence on October 1, but the DoT, under the current first-come first-served basis for allocation of licences which come bundled with start-up spectrum, is only processing the applications of those companies which have applied before September 25.

“This is because there is not likely to be any 2G spectrum for the those who have applied after this date. We should not be part of this since the frequencies we seek are not used by any existing operators. In about 7 circles, the guard band of 1800 MHz is already available. In the other circles, it is being used by para-military forces, but is in the process of being vacated,” Mr Arifuddin added.

Vavasi is also set to make India as a hub for the development and installation of this technology platform which the company calls Next Generation 1, and is derived from the Time Division-Synchronous Code Division Multiple Access. This technology is touted to be more advanced that the CDMA and GSM platforms. It is also said to offer higher network speeds and is considered more efficient.

source :: http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/News/N...how/2632501.cms

[kshah 452]

TD-SCDMA is superior, efficient tehnology and there are possibilities of it becoming leading technology because china has big stake in R&D and chinese government want it to be popular.

I hope NP come in force soon. for 3G yet long way to go. Even technology is not as efficient as it is marketed

[santhoshavanoor 7]

Hi Friends,

TRAI made decision to impose the swapping between network operators with the same mobile number. I'm eagerly waiting for that. Very good decision from TRAI.

[Mobile Man 0]

Truely...

Its a good decision. TRAI should be appreciated for this.

But when is this going to start...

[santhoshavanoor 7]

First TRAI will implement operator swapping on 4 Metros from last week of January 2008. I can post the correct date. And from June 2008 they want to implement in all India. Then customer can choose according to the services what the operators providing. I heard that Reliance Communications already welcomes this move.

[shashank 8]

^^NO you are wrong. They will introduce it in the 2008 end in 4 metros,

[supernova 47]

yes i also read somewhere , i think somewhere in this forum itself that this would be introduced in late 2008 in metros . i would request moderators to check and merge if there is an existing thread for this

[jatin_the_great2003 0]

Yes Supernova u are right....

In this forum only its been said to start the MNP in the end of 2008...

[Honest 836]

^^^

This operator swapping service is technically called as "NUMBER PORTABILITY SERVICE". In this, any subscriber can change his operator without changing his number.

And surely, about the NUMBER PORTABILITY we are already discussing in a different thread in our beloved Rimweb.

This thread can be merged with that as asked by Supernova also.

Regards.

[santhoshavanoor 7]

Thanks for the actual introduction time. Here in Bahrain news papers they quoted that End of January 2008. I'm going to check the website of TRAI. But it is really helpful to us.

[kesav 127]

450 MHz discussion is hotting up............

450 MHz is an ultimate band for rural broadband due to its ultimate low capex requirement.

We should not fall prey to our legacy and loose focus on the future.

All the incumbents (defence, police and Doordarshan) should be requested to vocate this frequency band and give it to our rural kith and kins, who form 70% percentage of our population.

Any development which doesn't empower our villagers( on whose effort we eat everyday 3 times) is worthless.

DoT and TRAI should include this band for upcoming 3G auction

http://www.wpc.dot.gov.in/DocFiles/summary_record.doc

http://www.wpc.dot.gov.in/DocFiles/POL.doc

[kshah 452]

infact in CDMA 3G can be introduced even in 800 mhz. Private operators (TATA and RELIANCE) are just trying to get more spectrum. Now its 450 Mhz. It is superior than any other frequency but why waste time?

[coolrajiv 1]

Portable mobile number

The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) will submit its recommendations on mobile number portability to the government by the first week of April. The government will then start the tendering process to issue licences to set up a central clearing agency, Trai member R.N. Prabhakar said. The central clearing agency would create a central data base for ported numbers and facilitate the process of porting. Number portability enables a subscriber to port a mobile number to another service provider in the same area.

[kesav 127]

WPC wing to look into Vavasi’s spectrum allocation

Wireless Planning Commission’s (WPC), the National Radio Regulatory Authority will look into the issue of spectrum allocation for Vavasi Telegence in which Sam Pitroda is involved on an advisory role.

Vavasi has applied for mobile services in the 1,785 to 1,805 MHz band. DoT however has cited that international technology specifications for Vavasi’s unique wireless technology do not exist. The government is considering allotting Vavasi spectrum in the 400 to 430 MHz band.

source :: http://www.telecomtiger.com/fullstory.aspx?storyid=1155

Defence ready to set up alternate network

NEW DELHI: The defence forces are now ready to set up an optic fibre communication network so that they can vacate unused spectrum for reallocation to telecom firms, it is learnt.

They have indicated their view to the Department of Telecommunications (DoT), adding that their project must be fully funded, sources told this newspaper.

It is believed that the forces could complete the project much faster than any other entity, thereby hastening the process of spectrum vacation.

So far, the defence ministry stand has been that unless the alternate optic fibre communication network is readied by the DoT, the defence forces will not vacate any spectrum for telcos.

In fact, state-owned Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd (BSNL) has been on the job of setting up the optic fibre network for the Air Force.

Earlier, there was an understanding between the Air Force and DoT on spectrum vacation, but recently the defence ministry made it clear that the DoT must set up an alternate secure network for all the three forces before any spectrum vacation.

Although the estimated project cost for setting up a secure network for all the three is around Rs 4,400 crore, sources said that the expenditure could be lowered significantly if the forces were to undertake the project themselves. This is because the armed forces may utilise some of their existing communication networks also in the new set-up. However, the defence forces are yet to arrive at an exact price-tag.

The DoT, meanwhile, has ordered a technical study to assess how much spectrum the defence forces actually require. Communications minister A Raja made this statement in Parliament last week.

Spectrum is considered a scarce resource, which is essential for running wireless phone services. The DoT could take up to two years to set up an alternate network which is necessary for defence forces to vacate around 60 Mhz of spectrum (2G and 3G), according to estimates. The Forces claim they could do it faster.

DoT and the defence ministry are yet to agree on an MoU draft that indicates a timeframe and conditions for releasing around 60 Mhz of spectrum in stages. All this, while the telcos are queuing up for spectrum.

Good move by Armed forces.....

source :: http://www.dnaindia.com/report.asp?newsid=1156396

Edited March 17, 2008 by kesav

[kesav 127]

Roll-out of 3G mobile services during UPA regime itself: Raja

New Delhi (PTI): Notwithstanding the ongoing tussle between the existing and new GSM operators over getting the radio frequency first, Telecom Minister A Raja on Friday said the next generation mobile services would be be started before the tenure of the UPA government comes to an end.

"Spectrum for 3G mobile services will be rolled out soon ... I am sure the services will start during the UPA regime," the Minister said on sidelines of a function here.

The tenure of the present incumbent is till May 2009 and therefore, Department of Telecom (DoT) will have to allocate spectrum soon to start the 3G services by next year.

Spectrum is radio frequency that enables telecom operators to offer wireless services, including voice and internet.

The government had last November announced that spectrum for 3G services (which offer high speed data transfer and download facilities on mobile phones) would be auctioned.

Meanwhile, on the issue of existing 2G spectrum, the government has already issued 120 new licenses among nine firms for which spectrum is yet to be allocated. The new players would get 4.4 MHz start-up spectrum to roll out services and the government hopes that at least 4-5 new pan-India telecom operators would join the existing players, resulting in lowering of tariffs by at least 50 per cent.

source :: http://www.hindu.com/thehindu/holnus/001200803141757.htm

[srk006 21]

......The DoT could take up to two years to set up an alternate network which is necessary for defence forces to vacate around 60 Mhz of spectrum (2G and 3G), according to estimates. The Forces claim they could do it faster.

....

2years!!! So no 3G till 2011

Edited March 17, 2008 by srk006

[kshah 452]

infact neither of operators too are interested in providing 3G services. As their VAS in 2G is not earning revenues they anticipated. ARPU is just less than 250 in Prepaid and about 400 in post paid.

[rajeshkatiyar 3]

Dear friend

3G globally in not earning too much profit except Japan

In India Govt is simply killing it by delaying the spectrum

In my opinion Wimax will disturb all plans of

3G