Blazing ahead!

The remarkable growth in Indian mobile subscribers continues unabated. As per figures released by the regulator TRAI, a record 15.64 million new connections were added in March. With the two CDMA biggies (Reliance and Tata) rolling out GSM networks as well, India is all set to breach the 500 million mark before the end of 2009.  For more, see the Lightreading story. The complete report can be downloaded from the TRAI website.

A Guide to India's Telecom Market

Lightreading has come up with another excellent report on the Indian telecom market. It covers a number of aspects including the licensing regime, fixed and wireless services providers, role of infra-sharing, rural coverage.

Spectrum Policy 2.0

An insightful post from Dean Bubbley on new concepts in spectrum management.

It's Official: 3G Auction Postponed

The DoT has published a revised timetable for the much-awaited auction of 3G spectrum. As per the latest announcement, the key dates are as follows:

Last date for applications: 15/01/09
Publication of ownership details: 16/01/09 (19/01/09)
Bidder ownership compliance certificate: 20/01/09 (21/01/09)
Pre-qualification of bidders: 22/01/09
Mock auction: 27-28/01/09
Start of 3G auction: 30/01/09
Start of BWA auction: 2 days after the end of 3G auction

Note that the dates in brackets are for BWA only.

3G Auction Postponed

According to news reports, the Govt has decided to postpone the 3G auction by two weeks. No official notification has bee issued yet, but the COAI Director General has been quoted as saying that the auction will now take place at the end of January, instead of the earlier date of January 16. The reason being given is the large number of requests from various parties for more time to study the DoT memorandum on 3G and BWA spectrum auction. At the same time, it appears that the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs is yet to approve the 3G policy. Note that any delay in auctioning 3G spectrum automatically delays BWA spectrum auction as it's to be held only after 3G auction is over.

A delay of two weeks is not such a big deal given the extended delay in finalising 3G spectrum auction for different reasons. However, any further delay beyong January may lead to the whole process being frozen until a new govt takes shape after the general elections, expected to take place in the spring.