Wrangling over 3G services

The rollout of the 3G network may not happen until late 2009. The reason: the Department of Telecom (DoT) and the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) just can’t seem to agree on anything.

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DoT wants an open auction for third-generation network spectrum, which will allow a host of international players to enter the Indian market, whereas TRAI would like the auction to be limited to just current players in the market. DoT reckons an open auction will allow the government to raise far higher amounts of cash from the spectrum, while the TRAI contends that existing players will be able to roll out 3G services a lot faster.

India is already at least three years behind the rest of the world in rolling out 3G services, and this wrangle will not help matters.

—Kushan Mitra