3g Services in India
India’s much awaited third generation (3G) mobile services auction was reschedule to February 2010 as we shared in our earlier news. Before the long expected 3G auctions, telecom experts advised prospective operators to search for the High-end customers in their existing subscriber base and prepare to them to shift to high speed download with the 3.5G that the third generation spectrum would facilitate.
The telecom expert’s view at a 3G India Mobile Operators Executive Summit was that the new service could lead to explosive 3G growth in India with low cost UMTS enable mobile phones. It would enable cheaper download of several applications like Mobile TV, Video clips of films and Sports like Cricket, Education network Gaming and Entertainment; for hi-end users, voice and video callings would be cheaper on 3G. The State run telecom operator Bhart Sanchar Nigam Ltd (BSNL) and Mahanagar Telephone Nigam Ltd (MTNL) who have been providing 3Gmobile services for some months and still only licensees to provide the 3G mobile and broadband service in India, enlightened the operators assembled with their own experience in the much hyped 3G domain.
India’s First 3G mobile service operator MTNL ’s Chief General Manager (Wireless Services-Delhi), A. K. Bhargava pointed out how the problem was not in technology but in ancillary services like billing and customer management. “The customer does not care whether it is 3G or 2G; we have to educate him on what benefits to expect from 3G.” MTNL had fewcustomers to begin with but once the benefits were explained “we had one lakh new 3G customers in just a month”. The higher tariff at the beginning restricted usage but “when tariff came down, customer base multiplied”, he added. His view was that “it was too early to talk of 3G services becoming popular with bottom of the pyramid customers.” But for the service to be profitable, the customer search should include middle level users as well as hi-end ones. The potentialcustomers
The telecom expert’s view at a 3G India Mobile Operators Executive Summit was that the new service could lead to explosive 3G growth in India with low cost UMTS enable mobile phones. It would enable cheaper download of several applications like Mobile TV, Video clips of films and Sports like Cricket, Education network Gaming and Entertainment; for hi-end users, voice and video callings would be cheaper on 3G. The State run telecom operator Bhart Sanchar Nigam Ltd (BSNL) and Mahanagar Telephone Nigam Ltd (MTNL) who have been providing 3Gmobile services for some months and still only licensees to provide the 3G mobile and broadband service in India, enlightened the operators assembled with their own experience in the much hyped 3G domain.
India’s First 3G mobile service operator MTNL ’s Chief General Manager (Wireless Services-Delhi), A. K. Bhargava pointed out how the problem was not in technology but in ancillary services like billing and customer management. “The customer does not care whether it is 3G or 2G; we have to educate him on what benefits to expect from 3G.” MTNL had fewcustomers to begin with but once the benefits were explained “we had one lakh new 3G customers in just a month”. The higher tariff at the beginning restricted usage but “when tariff came down, customer base multiplied”, he added. His view was that “it was too early to talk of 3G services becoming popular with bottom of the pyramid customers.” But for the service to be profitable, the customer search should include middle level users as well as hi-end ones. The potentialcustomers