Amazing thing. All would have seen/heard/read the rush for 3G in India. Telecom analysts (a.k.a Pandits) are predicting that there will be phenomenal growth in subscriptions and Average Revenue Per User. I have been in the mobile business for a decade now. Who would have thought that Indian Mobile Operators would be willing to pay such huge amount for these kind of spectrum usage? Few years ago, European operators stepped on each others toes to garner the same 3G spectrum. Many have to defer their capital investment for couple of years to roll out, because the technology itself was very capital intensive then. With the advanced technology, this has come down significantly. But under the current conditions, Indian operators need more capital to expand their 2G and 2.5G services into rural India. Leading operators are acknowledging this fact. 3G may bring additional subscription in already saturated Metro and "A" circles. Will it make a difference to the rural mass ? Is it possible to spend simultaneously to expand in rural markets AND to provide 3/3.5 G Services for Mobile Broadband Data services ?
Rural India will definitely benefit from the 3/3.5G, if and only if, the Wireless Broadband Access technologies are deployed and data connectivity is provided to these remote areas. Natural fall out will be, using the same spectrum to provide voice services/text services. But is it commercially feasible ? The investment requirement to cover such a huge tract of uncovered terrain is phenomenal.
It will be interesting to watch the things unfold in next couple of months. As with any new licensing, there are serious players who clung to their roll out plans to offer services. There are opportunitists, who just garner the license with spectrum and sell it off with a fat margin. Pure businessmen! Meanwhile the common man, continue to be awaiting with high hopes to get the benefits of technology.
Whoever may remain in the game to provide these services, the ultimate winner is Government of India and the policy makers who go with a broad grin to the Parliament and to the electorate to get a pat for the good job done !
