The wait to experience feature rich 3G services is finally heading towards the end for Indian mobile subscribers. After years of prolonged delay, the government finally announced the 3G policy along with policy for Mobile Number Portability (MNP).

As expected, the government has allowed participation of foreign players in the 3G spectrum auctioning process. Such foreign players need to hold equity of atleast 26 percent in the JV floated with Indian partner. This is in contrast to Trai’s recommendations which had favoured the participation to be restricted to existing players.

There will 10 slots of spectrum available for allocation. 3 slots will be reserved for CDMA players who have a special mention in the 3G policy with spectrum in the 450 MHz, 800 MHz and 1900 MHz frequency band. The spectrum will come with a reserve price of Rs 2,240 crore for a pan-India license. Additionally the Mumbai and Delhi circle will have only 2 slots each of 5MHz available for allocation. These circles along with category ‘A’ circle will command Rs 160 crore for every block. The price for Kolkata and category-B is Rs 80 crore while for category-C it is Rs 30 crore per block.

BSNL and MTNL have one slot reserved to offer 3G services in their respective circles of operations.

The operators will be exempt from paying any licence fees for the first year subsequent to which they will be charged one percent of AGR (Adjusted Gross Revenue) every year.

The government also announced the introduction of MNP concept in the country thereby arming the interests of consumers and tightening the noose around operators pertaining to quality of services. The concept to be initiated in metros will involve a central agency monitoring and managing the MNP operations in the country. A auctioning process for the same to determine the successful player will be conducted and such a agency should be independent from any stake in any of the service providers and vice versa.

Qualcomm welcomed the policy decisions unveiled by the government. Kanwalinder Singh, President of QUALCOMM India and SAARC said, “Qualcomm welcomes the government’s announcement of its 3G policy and believes this will benefit the entire wireless communications ecosystem. 3G will bring efficient voice and rich data services to Indian consumers. Qualcomm contributes to all 3G CDMA standards, and is committed to seeing them succeed in the marketplace.”

Salient Features of 3G Policy:

   1)      Foreign players allowed to participate in 3G spectrum auctioning

   2)      Reserve price of Rs 2,240 crore for pan-India licence

   3)      3 slots reserved for CDMA players

   4)      Except for Mumbai and Delhi, 10 slots available for allocation

   5)      No licence fees for first year

   More details of the policy decisions are awaited.