Comments on: India Finally Has a 3G Plan; WiMAX in the Mix, Too

By: Amalraj

Amalraj — Sat, 23 Aug 2008 01:16:26 +0000

When wil airtel & idea cellular launch 3g ìn india

By: anand

anand — Mon, 18 Aug 2008 20:07:08 +0000

yeah i too think that the cost would be much higher than the normal calls.And as far as i think that they should try to improve the 2g network first rather than implementing 3g networks.I mean to say that there are still so many places where there is even no network in simple places like at homes in internal rooms.

By: Jith

Jith — Sun, 17 Aug 2008 17:57:19 +0000

Yes correct but do you know competition for 3g spectrum humm is like mad. In the bidding side, price is gone like crazy heights truly unexpected expected highs! So I think it wont be cheaper at customer side too. I believe this prob will surly slow down the growth of 3g in country like India!!! Is it?

By: Ericsson Expects Mass LTE Deployment in 2012 - GigaOM

Ericsson Expects Mass LTE Deployment in 2012 - GigaOM — Tue, 19 Feb 2008 23:00:34 +0000

[...] last week, Bhikshesvaran is uncertain if the Chinese market will skip 3G deployment entirely. India chose not to. The staggered generations of network will only help Ericsson, which faces a smaller end-user [...]

By: BSNL’s Big $750 MM WiMAX Network Plan « GigaOM

BSNL’s Big $750 MM WiMAX Network Plan « GigaOM — Wed, 21 Nov 2007 15:40:47 +0000

[...] The state-owned incumbent that is often the target of choice four letter words because of dropped calls to my parents in Delhi, has been dabbling with WiMAX for a while now. The announcement comes close on the heels of Indian Government clarifying its 3G policies. [...]

By: India Finally Has a 3G Plan; WiMAX in the Mix, Too | TheTechnologyBlog.biz

India Finally Has a 3G Plan; WiMAX in the Mix, Too | TheTechnologyBlog.biz — Mon, 19 Nov 2007 17:55:44 +0000

[...] India Finally Has a 3G Plan; WiMAX in the Mix, Too [...]

By: Hans Mash

Hans Mash — Fri, 16 Nov 2007 06:18:19 +0000

By bringing in WiMax technology India can become a super power much earlier than expected .Already Telecom revolution has made valuable impact in India’s growth story and this WiMax Technology with speeds of over 55 Mb/s and above will only speed up the economy. .

By: Varun

Varun — Wed, 14 Nov 2007 19:26:59 +0000

Hey Om

I think it will take a while for the end user to actually start using 3G .

what time frame do you see for the same ?

By: Rohit

Rohit — Tue, 13 Nov 2007 21:37:14 +0000

How will six carriers fit in 30 MHz with FDD?

By: Shiv

Shiv — Tue, 13 Nov 2007 17:15:53 +0000

Om,

Here is the link you requested…

(link)

As for the momentum behind WiMAX, you have already written about Sprint’s troubles, the reversal with Clearwire…basically, the point I am making is that all the momentum today is for fixed WiMAX licenses or basically DSL replacement/backhaul and other such applications. This is certainly not competition for fully mobile, commercial and tested 3G that has thousands of devices and rapidly declining ASPs…

To the other point by John, today 2.1 GHz is the frequency of choice for WCDMA, but you should read up on the momentum behind UMTS at 900 MHz. Elisa in Finland just launched and there is tremendous momentum from Europe in this regard. ATT has also launched at 850 MHz as has Telstra and some Brazilian operators (very new)…3G EV DO services over CDMA2000 networks are widely deployed at 800 MHz.

By: Manish

Manish — Tue, 13 Nov 2007 17:01:30 +0000

Om, 3G and WiMax address different needs of the market. 3G is on the Go, while WiMax is for stationary use. WiMax bandwidth for higher speeds (~40 miles/hour) is lower than 3G at the same speed, though I dont have the figures at hand to quote.

By: Petabro

Petabro — Tue, 13 Nov 2007 16:48:25 +0000

With this auction there will be 6-9 operators in each market. Wonder when the consolidation will start

By: John Thacker

John Thacker — Tue, 13 Nov 2007 16:25:04 +0000

Oh, and of course Japan is problematic for roaming. If the phone specifically supports the right frequencies for NTT DoCoMo’s FOMA (and is unlocked), then the interface is compatible enough that using a different card will work. KDDI uses CDMA, but on a different frequency than the US/Canada/South Korea.

By: Om Malik

Om Malik — Tue, 13 Nov 2007 16:18:11 +0000

John,

Correct me if I am wrong, but it seems like W-CDMA 2100 MHz is probably the most widespread 3G frequency. Is it not the case, or am I missing something?

By: John Thacker

John Thacker — Tue, 13 Nov 2007 16:15:32 +0000

The spectrum is going to be released in the 2100 MHz band, which would make it compatible with rest of the world, barring a few countries such as the US.

US, Canada, Brazil, and Australia. Oh, and the parts of Europe that use 900 MHz as well.

The US did auction off some 2100 MHz spectrum last year. The 2100 MHz band was already being used for other purposes when UMTS was released. Of course, that's the downlink frequency; the 1900 MHz that most of Europe and Asia use for uplink has been used by PCS 2G services for years.

Multiband phones are inevitable anyway, just like with GSM.

By: Om Malik

Om Malik — Tue, 13 Nov 2007 16:08:43 +0000

Good points Shiv, but there seems to be a lot of movement in the WiMAX world and folks like Intel have been eager funders of WiMAX.

On your first point, I think DoT order today indicates that they are backing wimax. sure other technologies can play a role.

if there are links you can send me with more information, i would greatly appreciate.