This one comes as no surprise. On the sidelines of ITU Telecom World in Geneva, Telecom Minister confirmed (again!) that the 3G spectrum auction will be conducted by March 31, 2010 and not by December 7. A further delay of about 3 months. Why? Well, foreign telcos will be joining in the bid and since the companies are asking for more time coz of the Christmas break, our telecom ministry saw no other viable option other than to delay it.

We Say: Honestly, we don’t want to say anything this time. Indian 3G auction has become a joke in the telecom world where we’re still trying to auction the spectrum for around 1 and a half years. We’ll believe when it finally happens. Oh by the way, do enter the fun little poll below so that we know what you think about it.

MTNL Mumbai has kicked off a promotional offer for their existing GSM subscribers. Trump and Dolphin users can now have the benefit to try out the 3G service in Mumbai before taking the plunge. Starting from today till Sep 30, a user activating the promotional offer will be offered to try out the 3G service wherein there will be free unlimited video calls within MTNL network but accessing internet will be charged at 50p/100KB.

Users can activate the service by sending an SMS “FREE 3G” to 444 (Trump) or 555 (Dolphin). After the trial period has ended, if a user wishes to continue with the service, he can send the following SMS “ACT 3G” to 444 (Trump) or 555 (Dolphin) and receive a waiver of a one-time activation charge of Rs. 300.

MTNL Mumbai estimates to cover the whole Mumbai with 3G network by the end of November 2009.

At the IndiaOn conference held in New Delhi, Bharti Airtel CEO Manoj Kohli said they’re planning to launch their 3G service in October next year provided everything goes as planned.

“If everything goes well on time with regard to spectrum auction, by February or March we will have spectrum allocation. By next Diwali (2010), we will have commercial launch of 3G services in India.”

Government recently fixed the base price of the 3G spectrum at Rs. 3,500 crore and the auction is expected to be completed by November.

Ed’s Note: Our overworked brains ditched us. Sorry for the goof up, we have added the plans and edited the story accordingly.

When TeleGyaan did an exclusive review of MTNL’s 2G/3G plans, one of our avid readers voiced his opinion and asked us to look at other operators in the landscape. Given the reader-friendly blog we are, here is a post comparing all the GSM – Blackberry plans on offer::

Continue Reading…

Now that MTNL too has launched Blackberry services along with 3G, here is a quick look at the plans the public operator is offering its users.

Plans for Individual users

BIS 2G Unlimited:

• Monthly Rent: Rs. 1099
• Unlimited data download

BIS 3G Unlimited:

BIS 2G Value:

• Monthly Rent: Rs. 500
• Free usage of upto 500Kb (Strange isnt it???)
• Data charges post free usage: 50p per Kb (Expensive isn’t it???)

BIS 3G Value:

• Monthly Rent: Rs. 1,500
• Free usage of upto 1,000Kb (Strange isn’t it???)
• Data charges post free usage: 30p per Kb (Expensive isn’t it???)

Continue Reading…

TeleGyaan recently brought you a post on BSNL coming out with Blackberry services in April.  Now it’s the other public operators turn to offer the same. Yes, MTNL announced the launch of Blackberry services in Delhi yesterday. The service will be made available through MTNL’s postpaid arm – Dolphin. 

As for the phone, the operator will be selling the Blackberry Bold as a part of its initial offerings. Also the operator is trying to take due advantage of the 3G spectrum, by offering this 3G enabled phone. This will give both the operators an edge over others. Along with the above phone, MTNL will also be offering Blackberry Curve 8310/20 and Blackberry 8700. The prices of these handsets are:

• Blackberry Bold: Rs. 34,000
• Blackberry Curve 8310/8320: Rs.24,000
• Blackberry 8700G: Rs.14,000

We Say: Reiterating the fact, the two public operators will have an edge over other players as they will be offering the Blackberry service along with 3G to users. However, it solely depends on the plans being offered by MTNL and BSNL.  

Every time there is some new about the 3G auction, it is about its postponement. Now the recent news is that, 3G spectrum auction which was likely to happen in April will further get pushed to May. The telecom ministry is proposing to push it due to the month-long general elections that begin in mid-April.

Telecom Secretary ‘Siddhartha Behura’ officially said that the 3G auction looks difficult before the general elections. We consumers don’t have an option but to wait for the day the 3G auction would actually happen.

Source: The Financial Express

BSNL launched its 3G services a while ago and we are here to give you the Gyaan you need on the same. This review will take you through all the plans on offer and their respective pros and cons::

Basic Gyaan::

• The service is available for both Prepaid and Postpaid users. 
• Currently, users cannot migrate from existing 2G service to the 3G one. 
• They will have to buy a new Sim for the same. 
• Users can avail voice and data benefits through the service 

Continue Reading…

The first movers in the 3G circuit, MTNL and BSNL, have come under the Intelligence Bureau scanner. According to the IB, it should be able to monitor the tele-conferencing services being offered as a part of the 3G service. With monitoring not possible in this case, the IB has asked the two state run operators to disallow access of this service to users. 

However, the two operators are keeping themselves away from the controversy by keeping mum about the issue. According to us, this case is a result of a hasty launch of the services to users.  

After the launch of MTNL’s Jadoo, it’s now BSNL’s turn to launch the high speed 3G service. The operator announced the launch of 3G in Tamil Nadu recently. The service will be first pilot tested in Chennai, where the service will be the first of its kind. Moreover, the operator plans to cover 700 cities and has already set an ample amount, to the extent of Rs. 2700 crore, aside for the same.

Let’s wait and watch how the service is accepted by the users down south.