The Hindu Business Line : `3G mobile services launch on track'

Good tidings
Telecom Dept okays trials for CDMA operators
To roll out optical fibre cable project in phases
Idea Cellular, Aircel licences may be cleared by December

New Delhi , Nov. 20

Third generation (3G) mobile services which will allow one to access high speed data and better voice quality could hit the market as early as mid-2007. The Department of Telecom has made it clear that there was no delay in the launch of 3G services in the country and spectrum would be allocated as soon as the policy was in place.

DoT also said that additional radio frequency for the existing cellular services would be made available by December-end.

Highly placed DoT officials told Business Line that availability of spectrum was not an issue as far as 3G services were concerned.

"There is absolutely no delay in the launch of 3G services. We have received the recommendations of TRAI (Telecom Regulatory Authority of India) in October and we will announce a policy shortly. We will be allocating the spectrum at the earliest."

DoT has also decided to release frequency in the 1900 Mhz band for 3G trials by CDMA (code division multiple access) operators.

GSM (global systems for mobile communications) operators had objected to this on the ground that it would create interference with their cellular service.

On the proposed optical fibre cable project being rolled out by BSNL for the defence forces, aimed at making available additional spectrum for cellular operators, the DoT official said, "Launch of 3G services is not dependant on the fibre cable project. The optical fibre cable project is aimed at making available radio frequency for existing 2G cellular services. For 3G services we already have the spectrum for allocation."

The DoT stand assumes significance amidst concern in the industry that the 3G services would get delayed to as late as 2008 due to lack of spectrum. Cellular operators had said that they would be able to start 3G services within a couple of months of getting spectrum. The DoT policy is likely to be announced by January 2007.

To bail out existing cellular services facing severe spectrum crunch, DoT has decided to roll out the optical fibre cable project in phases, which will free some part of 45 Mhz of radio frequency, now being used by the armed forces.

New licences

Sources said that applications for new licences from Idea Cellular and Aircel could be cleared as early as December once the additional spectrum is available.

Meanwhile, a high-level delegation of the GSM-based operators today met Mr D.S. Mathur, Secretary, DoT, seeking more spectrum. Mr Manoj Kohli, President, Bharti Airtel, Mr Sanjiv Agha, Chief Executive Officer, Idea Cellular, and Mr T.V. Ramachandran, Director-General, COAI, were part of the delegation.