The Hindu Business Line : 3G policy framework in 2-3 months: Raja

The Communication and IT Minister, Mr A. Raja, on Friday said that the policy for allowing third generation mobile services will be finalised in another 2-3 months and will be tabled in Parliament.

The Department of Telecom had earlier said that the policy would be announced by June. However, issues relating to spectrum availability and allowing foreign players to bid for 3G licences has held up the policy.

"I want to discuss with all the stakeholders and prepare a comprehensive document on 3G policy. This will take 2-3 months," said Mr Raja on the sidelines of a press conference to announce BSNL's new roaming tariff.

The third generation mobile service is expected to bring high-speed data services like video and broadcast on mobile handsets.

When asked about the mega tender floated by BSNL for procuring 45.5 million cellular lines, the Minister said that he has asked the PSU to negotiate with Ericsson to take the price below $100. Ericsson had quoted the lowest amount of $107 per line.

While industry sources said that BSNL has not so far approached Ericsson for negotiations, they said that the vendors were expecting the PSU to push hard for lowering the per-line cost.

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