About three-and-a-half- years ago, I had thought 3G was a year away. Amazingly, that is true even as of today!
In India, 3G with its promise of higher speeds and more efficient spectrum utilisation should have been rolled out ages ago. But individual greed was put ahead of national good — it is hard for people in power to make money through auctions!
3G services are already available via BSNL and MTNL, and through the EV-DO services that the CDMA operators have launched. 3G will help with better and cheaper voice, and richer and more varied data services. Each of us will discover our own killer app for the thicker pipes that will be now available. So, it should create interesting opportunities for mobile content and software companies, and give a big boost to the mobile Internet in India.
But, the reality is with we should have been auctioning spectrum for 4G/LTE now. In telecom, we cannot afford to stay a generation behind.
Monday: Voice Competition
