3G policy for India announced! This could be a game changer…
The Govt of India has finally announced its much awaited 3G policy. The announcement paves the way for the auction of scarce 3G spectrum in metros & Tier A cities to Indian & foreign telecom operators. Mobile operators can now start offering commercial 3G services in the first half of next year, making possible high end mobile services like gaming, music, mobile internet etc. PSU telephony companies (BSNL, MTNL) get a preferential treatment- they get 3G slots in their respective areas without participating in the bidding process, thus getting a critical first mover advantage (though they will have to pay license fee for the spectrum at the highest bid, which takes away a pricing advantage).
For details, check out the reports here & here.
Seen against the backdrop of the impending launch of the IPhone in India (due in a few week), this is a very significant development and could be a game changer as far as the mobile platform goes. Notwithstanding the buzz around Web2.0, Mobile 2.0 has been a virtual non starter in India (as it has been in other parts of the worlds), partly because of lack of high speed networks like 3G. This could change now, making possible a plethora of mobile based services that have long been promised, but never got delivered.
One likely bottleneck is the adoption of 3G-capable mobile devices (currently at app 1% penetration), and the creation of content/applications that can be delivered over the networks to these devices.
Question to the readers of this blog: Can the introduction of 3G help change the lop-sided relationship between telcos & the mobile aggregators, application developers etc?. Telcos command a lion’s share of revenues (60-70%) for mobile products & services offered over their networks as they control the gateway, making commercial viability for app developers a tall order. Can 3G be a catalyst in the profusion of high end services on such a scale that the sheer economies of scale justifies sharing the revenue pie more equitably. What do you say?
Update: Just remembered this awesome slide deck on 3G hype. It was delivered by Benjamin Joffe, who heads a Beijing based mobile & internet consulting company Plus8Star. Plus8Star operates in China, Japan, Korea - arguably the most competitive and evolved mobile phone markets in the world; they have published detailed reports on best practises from Cyworld (Korea) & QQ (China), so they probably know a thing or two about this space. The slide deck paints a rather dismal picture of the promise of 3G… its worth a definitive walkthrough.
Benjamin on Aug 14, 2008
Thanks for your embed
You’ll see that when you start to distinguish dogs and demons, you start to see them everywhere!
Telecom Training India on Aug 14, 2008
3G is long due in India…and with the pace telecom companies are getting subscribers, they deserve it.
Gautam Kshatriya on Aug 15, 2008
When ‘3′ launched in the UK, I was still a 2nd year student at Warwick University. I immediately rushed out to sign up with them - it was a bad move. The phone that I got with the contract was great, but weighed 6kgs and the battery lasted about 4 minutes. But I didn’t begrudge it, I understood that this was part of being one of the first people to buy a new technology.
The trouble is, even when their phone improved, people still weren’t convinced. 3 launched a massive marketing campaign trying to push video-calling, but nobody was biting. Was it a cultural thing? I don’t know. But last I checked, the way that 3 is competing in the UK these days is on cost - their plans are amongst the cheapest. And that’s why people are buying 3 contracts, not because of the technology.
This may not be the case in India.
I think that another thing that will change the game is not a technology, but the regulation which has allowed MVNOs. Check out my post on why I think so here: http://www.moneyvidya.com/blog/?p=171
Gautam Kshatriya
guatam.kshatriya@moneyvidya.com
http://www.moneyvidya.com