3G Services in India

Indias much awaited third generation (3G) alert operate auction was reschedule to February 2010 as we shared in our earlier news. Before the long evaluate 3G auctions, telecommunication experts cognizant prospective operators to search for the High-end clients in their existing subscriber base and conspire to them to shift to senior high speed transfer with the 3.5G that the third generation spectrum would facilitate.The telecom experts location at a 3G India Mobile Operators Executive Summit was that the new attend could lead to explosive 3G festering in India with unhopeful cost UMTS enable mobile phones. It would enable cheaper download of several applications similar Mobile TV, Video clips of films and Sports like Cricket, Education network Gaming and Entertainment for hi-end users, voice and video callings would be cheaper on 3G. The State footrace telecom operator Bhart Sanchar Nigam Ltd (BSNL) and Mahanagar Telephone Nigam Ltd (MTNL) who wee been providing 3Gmob ile work for some months and still only licensees to provide the 3G mobile and broadband dish out in India, enlightened the operators assembled with their own experience in the much hyped 3G domain.Indias foremost 3G mobile service operator MTNL s Chief General Manager (Wireless Services-Delhi), A. K. Bhargava pointed out how the problem was not in technology but in ancillary work like billing and customer management. The customer does not care whether it is 3G or 2G we have to educate him on what benefits to expect from 3G. MTNL had fewcustomers to begin with but formerly the benefits were explained we had one lakh new 3G customers in just a month. The higher tariff at the beginning restricted usage but when tariff came down, customer base multiplied, he added. His view was that it was too early to talk of 3G services becoming popular with bottom of the pyramid customers. But for the service to be profitable, the customer search should include middle level users as well as hi- end ones. The potentialcustomers could be preselected from the existing subscriber base and told more or less what 3G could mean to each one of them.The MTNL executive suggested that operators must pick up 3G as a tool for enhancing efficiency, productivity and as promoting a changed life style and not as a mere upgrade on 2G.According to the BSNL principal general manager for value added services, Mr. S. S. Sirohi, 3G would be most popular with those who need to use Internet while on the head for the hills. Download is quick with 3G bandwidth he pointed out taking a leaf out of his companys offer of 3G services in the last few months. Live TV would be most popular and also network games with 3G availability. Mr. Sirohi advised theprospective operators to offer a bouquet of services on 3G different from the ones they were so far offering on the 2G networks. Opportunity for network games is enormous on 3G networks. This bouquet of services would drive the quest for rising modal(a ) revenue per user. Among other services that 3G would make popular, would be family services like multi-media. Operators should configure services before they begin to offer the higher bandwidth. Educate the customer to disc all over that for many of the hi-end services, 3G base would be much cheaper for him.The experts also wanted the cost of handsets that puke enable use of 3G, to be cheaper than what they are today. A handset costing Rs 5,000 may not be cheap by our standards Mr. Bhargava pointed out. It should come down to Rs.3000 or even less. Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) member R. N. Prabhakar advised the operators to use existing 2G networks to transmit 3G service also, to reduce costs enabling them with right packet. HSPA enabled networks would be able to handle 3G transmission. He assured mobilecustomers that the governor would keep a watch on the quality of service of 2G operation even as networks move on to provide 3G services.Mr. Avner Amran, chief ope rating officer of leading 3G network provider TTI Telecom, a universal company with comprehensive 3G network operator service solutions experience in several continents likened the explosive growth of telecomin India as more a kind of revolution than evolution, any operator going into 3G needs to prepare for the switching by advance preparation of the potential customer and lining up adequate applications, he told a select audience at the summit organised by Bharat Exhibitions.Bharat Exhibitions MD Mr. Shashi Dharan said 3G about to become a reality from a dream emphasizing the context of the event. The 3G auctions are expected to dissolve by FebruaryThere will be three type of customers to drive 3G in india. 1. Business lot using phones as Data Modem. Some thing similar to Reliance NetConnect or Tata Photon+. Pricing should be comparable to exiting broadband plans. 2. Connected Generation which needs to own one device to manage at that place social networks e.g. skype,twitter,fa cebook and always connected. 3. Parents of IT generation the great Indian Middle class who can always do with easy to use video phone services.1. This delay of over three years has deprived Indian subscribers of the benefits of high-speed mobile entropy services, which is proven to affect positively the domestic economy2. 3G will accept to offer data related services and also some innovative video VAS services. free millions of people access to broadband Internet in a short span of time.3. This is also an luck for Indian developers to join efforts with operators to develop applications that will meet the needs of the Indian mobile user. And because of the size and India software skills, these could be rolled out into other emerging markets.4. Moving 3G will enable high-speed data transfer enhance the user experience on services like live video streaming and many other graphic formats. As 3G is packet based, it uses wireless spectrum more efficiently than circuit switched format s.5. The thudding data transfer problems that subscribers faced with 2.5G will be improved by 3G. Also other services will be benefited by the higher bit pipe provided by 3G like music download or Internet applications/search. It will help operators offer rich content and new services such as mobile commerce, mobile music, video-based services and hi-speed mobile Internet services6. One of the biggest benefits for operators in India for first appearance 3G is to provide additional spectrum for voice services. Many operators are starved of spectrum and as 3G offers four to five quantify the voice capacity of 2G spectrums, it is a cost-effective tool to deliver voice7. Still India has a shortsighted broadband penetration (as of March 2008 there were only 6.22 million broadband subscriptions). mainly because the large untapped rural market. Is a big challenge to provide high bandwidth in rural areas using set lines. With 3G, network operators can offer wireless broadband services. Empowering services like telemedicine, virtual marketplace and e-learning can help to make peoples life better.8. According to (FICCI), in India, 3G subscriber base is expected to reach 90 million by 2013, accounting for 12% of the overall wireless user base. By 2013, 3G service revenues are expected to generate $15.8 billion, accounting for a share of 46% in overall wireless service revenue. There will also be an increase in the share of non-voice services, including data card access, and short messaging service. The Average Revenue Per User (ARPU) from these services is expected rise from the set 9% to nearly 23%.2010.The Indian telecommunications effort is the worlds fastest growing telecommunications industry,123 with 688.38 one million million million telephone (landlines and mobile) subscribers and 652.42 Million mobile phone connections as of July 2010 4 It is also the second largest telecommunication network in the world in terms of return of wireless connections after China.5 The Indian Mobile subscriber base has increased in size by a factor of more than one-hundred since 2001 when the number of subscribers in the country was approximately 5 million6 to 652.42 Million in July 2010.4As the fastest growing telecommunications industry in the world, it is projected that India will have 1.159 billion mobile subscribers by 2013.78910 Furthermore, projections by several leading global consultancies indicate that the total number of subscribers in India will exceed the total subscriber count in the China by 2013.78 The industry is expected to reach a size of 344,921 crore (US$76.23 billion) by 2012 at a growth rate of over 26 per cent, and generate employment opportunities for about 10 million people during the same period.11 According to analysts, the domain would create direct employment for 2.8 million people and for 7 million indirectly.11 In 2008-09 the overall telecom equipments revenue in India stood at 136,833 crore (US$30.24 billion) during t he fiscal, as against 115,382 crore (US$25.5 billion) a year before.