On the final count, nine telcos are in the race for the much-awaited 3G (third generation) auction, and 11 for broadband wireless access (BWA) bidding.
Although it looks like a keen contest, when the auction starts on
April 9, any of these applicants are free to stay away from the process.
While submission of applications to the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) had begun three days ago, the process culminated on Friday with all the established telecom service providers entering the fray.
Bharti Airtel, Vodafone Essar, RCom, Idea Cellular, Tata Teleservices, Aircel, Etisalat, S Tel, and Videocon are learnt to have submitted their 3G applications. The companies to have applied for BWA auction are Bharti Airtel, Vodafone, RCom, Idea , Aircel, Tata Communications Internet Services, Qualcomm, Spice, Tikona, HFCL and Augere.
Among the notable absentees is Uninor, though it had maintained all along that it was not keen on a pan-India 3G auction as it’s still to get the spectrum that it deserves for 2G service.
India’s entry into 3G, or high-speed internet access and multimedia services on mobile handsets, is coming at a time when the country has close to 600 million phone subscribers (581 million end of January 2010), out of which at least 560 million are mobile users. The second largest telecom market by subscribers after China, India adds over 15 million mobile users every month.
In January, India added close to 20 million mobile subscribers.
Although the government had targeted Rs 35,000 crore revenue from 3G and BWA bidding in the financial year 2009-10, the auction had to be deferred due to non-availability of spectrum.
Subsequently, when the Defence Forces agreed to vacate some of its unused airwaves to the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) for allocation of the same to telcos, 3G auction dates were rescheduled.
Now, though the finance ministry has set a target of Rs 35,000 crore revenue from 3G and BWA auction, the internal projection of DoT is to raise Rs 50,000 crore from the process.
Telcos are looking for opportunity to monetise 3G and BWA services at a time when the industry is caught in the midst of a price war and falling tariffs.
The all-India reserve price for 3G auction has been set at Rs 3500 crore, while that for BWA is Rs 1750 crore. Three slots (excluding BSNL/MTNL) each across 17 service areas, and four slots in the remaining five areas, would be thrown open for auction.
State-owned telcos, Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd (BSNL) and Mahanagar Telephone Nigam Ltd (MTNL), which were given 3G spectrum ahead of others, are already offering the service.
For the past several years, 3G has been stuck over dearth of spectrum, disagreements between the defence and the communications ministries over vacation of airwaves, and the number of 3G slots that could be allotted. Many high-level committees and GoMs (group of ministers) later, the government has decided to conduct the 3G auction in April.
