With the date for the 3G bids set, it’s time to get some clarity on the revenue aspect. Apart from spending big money to bid for the 3G spectrum, Indian telcos will have to shell out more if they secure the spectrum.

DoT has made it clear that a certain percentage will be charged to operators using 3G airwaves. They have also added that a current player in the market will have share 1% percent more as compared to 3% for the newest entrants.

However, this move has not been conceived well by most of the existing telcos. A two percent discount for old telcos comes because they already share around 2-6% of their revenues for offering 2G services and with an extra percent means now they’ll have to share anything in between 3-7%. Companies want an incremental share of revenues for using 3G services because 3G would be used by a niche crowd and a direct percent sharing means more money to the government even if the operator hasn’t used much of the 3G airwaves.

Source: ET

The ongoing liquidity crunch may not have impacted the telecom sector, but seems to have definitely affected the mindset of all telecom operators. The Department of Telecom (DOT) which had earlier planned the 3G auction by December 31 has now postponed it by two weeks to January 15 after the operators and bankers sought extension.

The major reason which comes out from the whole situation can be that our telecom operators have decided to play safe during this crunch period. Telecom operators will be able to source adequate funds in January as the institutions would be having funds available for the entire year.

Moreover, the GSM and CDMA operators differentiation of 2G and 3G revenue was also being seen as a delaying factor. DoT has decided to clarify any confusion over 3G auction by preparing the detailed schedule.

It seems the Blackberry security controversy in India will finally come to an end. Department of Telecommunication (DoT), Intelligence Bureau and National Technical Research Organisation (NTRO) have claimed to crack the Blackberry encryption codes which helps them to track the data sent from a Blackberry device to a non Blackberry device. The government has successfully tested this on operators like Airtel, Vodafone, BPL Mobile and Reliance barring the newest entrant Tata Indicom.

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The Indian Telecom authorities have given foreign telecom companies to auction for 3G spectrum. This means that the companies do not need an Indian partner to get a piece of the attractive 3G cake in India, which was the case sometime back. 

This would heat up the auctioning process and make it more competitive, but the step has some conditions too. In the end, when all the spectrum allocation would be dealt with, the foreign telcos would have to partner with Indian companies to start off their services here. Also, in order to get a license for the allocation, these companies would have to shell out an additional amount of Rs.1650 crore over and above their bid amount.

The Indian market is being considered as one of the Hotspots for Telecom companies and enjoying every bit of it are the Telecom Authorities and also (in the long run) the Consumers.

Being owned by the government has its own advantages. MTNL and BSNL have been already allotted the 3G spectrum and if all the trial tests prove successful, MTNL will be launching its commercial services by December. The current trial network is in and around the Delhi’s Connaught Place area. Mumbaikars will be getting their hands on the 3G pie by early next year.

DoT recently allocated one block of spectrum each to MTNL in Delhi and Mumbai and to BSNL in other service areas. This has been done ahead of the forthcoming auction of 3G spectrum for each telecom service area. DoT has already initiated the process for selection of the specialised agency for conduct of the e-auction. MTNL and BSNL will pay a price for the spectrum allocated to them equal to the highest bid in the respective service area.

Monday: Last week marked the sixth death anniversary of Mr. Dhirubhai Ambani and we at Tele Gyaan decided to pay him a small tribute.

Tuesday: Check out the cheapo vBling from Virgin Mobile. A flap phone for tight pockets. The latest update in the 3G spectrum scene is that DoT denied the allocation for CDMA operators. We know that these operators won’t gulp this pretty easily.

Wednesday: As one of our commenter points out “i hav been hearing since last yr
god knws when idea really hitz in mumbai circle”. And we thought the same initially but now they are raring to go. August is the month of the expected launch.

Thursday: Reliance is offering Jaadu Pack for Rs. 35. Check out the details here.

Friday: MTNL’s lifetime prepaid Jeevan Saathi has got cheaper. Now available for Rs. 149.

Department of Telecom has scrapped its plans to auction 3G spectrum for CDMA operators even as it is close to finalizing the policy for 3G services for GSM operators.

Reliance Communications, Tata Teleservices, Shyam Telelink and Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd are the major CDMA operators in the country which were supposed to auction for 3G services. But DoT has blocked this option on the grounds that it will clash with the spectrum of GSM players, thus leaving 71 million CDMA subscribers face an undecided future with regard to the availability of third generation mobile services.

The BlackBerry saga is expected to come to an end. The Canadian firm has agreed to share the decryption key with the DoT giving them the access to user’s confidential data. However, the condition put by RIM is that DoT should take full responsibility in case of user’s data get leaked.

We can say that RIM has smartly hit two birds with one stone. Firstly, they will continue to sell their services and secondly if in case any discrepancy happens, they will not be liable. This does not seem a good move clearly jeopardizing user’s privacy.