Govt Allots Spectrum To Mtnl, Airtel, Hutch Along With Bsnl For Testing 3g

[sanket55555 0]

Govt has alloted spectrum to MTNL, AIRTEL, HUTCH along with BSNL for testing 3G services

[spdf 0]

and what about reliance?

[Puneet 0]

Reliance had asked for the spectrum in 1900 MHz range, and as per the NFAP, 1900 MHz band is not marked for 3G. The band is the bone of contention between the CDMA and GSM players, and the govt is still undecided what to do.

As per the reports if Reliance requests for spectrum in 800 MHz range for EVDO testing, its request might be considered.

[kshah 452]

infact evdo/3g works best in 450 mhz spectrum.

[abhay 0]

Forget 2G, India has 3G Plans

Indian operators are aiming to roll out 3G even before earlier generation services like GPRS take off. The country’s telecom regulator is already beavering away on issues like the price of 3G licenses, the allocation of spectrum and how much companies can charge for value-added services, and now it has allowed Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd., Mahanagar Telephone Nigam Ltd., Bharti Airtel and Hutchison Essar Ltd. to use 3G spectrum to test equipment in anticipation of a launch later this year, says Reuters .

Optimists say India can leapfrog slower-bandwidth tech with a speedy launch of 3G. But there are some questions whether India is really jumping ahead of the curve or blindly following in the footsteps of operators in more developed markets—where 3G’s fancy gizmos proved hard to sell to consumers. We know, high-end data and video downloads and Bollywood movies on your mobile, yada, yada, yada. But here’s a frank assessment: “3G as a revenue booster [in India] is far-fetched at this time,” Shubham Majumder of Macquarie Research told GigaOM.

On the upside, freeing up the 3G band may alleviate a spectrum shortage that makes a mobile call in a place like Bangalore a crapshoot on a good day—plagued by dropped calls and that infuriating “network busy” signal. But don’t get too excited yet. “A sudden, massive overnight migration to 3G may be unrealistic to expect,” Tonse Telecom’s Sridhar Pai told GigaOM. “It will also come with a fee, and some won’t adopt it immediately. In the intermediate time, it may make things worse.”

http://india.gigaom.com/2006/09/14/forget-...a-has-3g-plans/

[@ksh@T 20]

DoT gives spectrum to BSNL for 3G

T Surendar | TNN

Mumbai: The Department of Telecommunications (DoT) has quietly allocated scarce spectrum to state-owned Bharat Sanchar Nigam Nigam (BSNL) to conduct experiments in 3G, an advanced telecom standard for carrying data and visuals at a high speed. The out-of-turn allocation could give BSNL an unfair advantage over private telecom players, which want to launch similar services.

The allocation of spectrum was mentioned in a ministry of communications & IT paper and notice that called for a meeting to discuss various spectrum related issues. The note names only BSNL as the receipient of 5 + 5 MHz spectrum in the 2 GHz band for carrying out experiments in Pune, Chandigarh, Kolkata and Coimbatore. Experiments will be conducted by 3G equipment vendor Nokia for BSNL.

Spectrum is variuos frequency bands in which telecom companies operate. Spectrum bands required for wireless telephony are scare in India as most of it is occupied by defence and other government agencies. Telecom companies want additional spectrum to improve the quality of services and also to launch 3G services, which will bring high-end video and data services on the mobile phone.

Most telecom companies had, over the last six months, made applications for allocation of spectrum for 3G experiments along with equipment vendors like Ericsson and Lucent. The applicants included companies that use two dominant mobile technologies — GSM and CDMA. However, the allocation of 3G spectrum to BSNL is expected to favour the GSM players.

Industry sources say that BSNL is expected to conduct its experiments with Nokia equiment. The experiments will involve testing transmission and other equipment in Indian conditions and standardising components. In this case, Nokia will plug in its equipment into BSNL’s network and run demo services with limited users to iron out glitches before large scale deployment. The process could take between 6-8 months.

As the DoT will allocate 3G spectrum simulteaneously to various telecom companies, BSNL could have a lead in launching its services. Since Nokia is also an equipment supplier to nearly all GSMbased mobile operators, companies like Airtel and Orange will also gain indirectly due to DoT largesse to BSNL. Reliance could also benefit if it manages to get spectrum for its proposed GSM services. Says a telecom expert, ‘‘Government’s move is tilted in favour of the GSM players. It is an unfair move which will kill competitive technologies.’’

Biggest losers will be Reliance and Tata, two large CDMA service providers. Though there are competing 3G technologies in CDMA and GSM, the ones offered by the CDMA have been found to be much more superior.