Indian telecom firms gearing up for 3G telephony

JAIPUR - Reliance Communications and Bharti Airtel Monday announced plans for the launch of third generation (3G) phone services in some selected circles in the country, including Jammu and Kashmir.

Anil Ambani-led Reliance Communications was the first to announce that it was ready for the launch of this faster and more reliable service in Jammu and Kashmir, a sensitive border state that has more than four million mobile phone subscribers.

Bharti Airtel, the largest operator, also announced the roll-out of these services in south Karnataka, including high-speed data services, internet access, broadband, Live TV, video-calling and a host of other multimedia applications.

Aditya Birla group company Idea Cellular also said it will be launching its 3G services in the 11 circles it has won the spectrum in the next few months.

“Preparatory work for 3G rollout is on track, and Idea will, in the next few months, launch 3G services in the 11 service areas where it won the 3G spectrum,” the company said in a statement.

Tata DoCoMo, among the private telecom companies and the state-run Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd (BSNL) and Mahanagar Telecom Nigam Ltd (MTNL) have already launched 3G services in the country.

These 3G services offer features such as video-calling, mobile TV, video streaming and applications access at superfast internet speeds on a wide variety of both mobile phones and personal computing devices.

“Demonstrating 3G capabilities in Jammu is an integral part of our ‘Vision 2015′ plan of creating a ‘wirefree India’ built on the concept of ‘affordable 3G for all’ platform,” said Atta-ul-Haque, circle head for Reliance Communications in Jammu and Kashmir.

The company, which offers 3G services in Delhi, Mumbai, Chandigarh and Kolkata, said it will add 12 more cities to the network by the month-end — Jaipur, Jodhpur, Kota, Bikaner, Ajmer, Udaipur, Bhiwadi, Ganganagar, Pilani, Pali, Bhilwara and Alwar.

The company has 3G licences in the 13 telecom circles — Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata, Punjab, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, West Bengal, Himachal Pradesh, Bihar, North East, Jammu and Kashmir, Orissa and Assam.

Airtel, which launched its 3G services in south Karnataka from Bangalore, said it will extend such services in all the 23 circles across the country in partnership with other operators where it does not have its own licence, covering some 1,500 cities.

We have chosen tech hub Bangalore for the national launch of 3G service as Karnataka is our largest circle by revenue. Bangalore, with 15 million subscribers, accounts for 50 percent of our state’s subscribers,” said Vineet Taneja, Bharti’s operations director.