D. Murali and Kumar Shankar Roy

Chennai: Reasonable tariffs, compliant handsets and ‘Indianised’ applications for the consumers: these are the crucial factors on which the success of third generation mobile telephony will hinge on, says a telecom expert. “A lot will depend on the kind of bidding that happens for the spectrum. If the bidding is controlled, then tariffs for services will also be reasonable. The other factor should be the availability of reasonably priced handsets in the market. That should happen by the time services are actually available in the country,” said Mr Prashant Singhal, National Telecom Leader, Ernst & Young. He added that 3G telecom players will need applications that are customised to the needs of the Indian consumer. Once these things fall into place, the reach of 3G will spread pretty quickly in India.

How big is the addressable 3G market in India? “These are still early days to estimate the size of the 3G market in India,” feels Mr Singhal, adding that six months after the auctions are over and the networks are rolled out, many new services may be expected to be launched. That could start from the metropolitan cities and the A circle states.

“Apart from the standard music and video downloads, expect a host of India-specific content. That is what will drive demand for 3G services here,” the expert noted in an email interaction with Business Line. So how does he view the iPhone launch? Over the last month, it has been launched in 22-odd countries. “India is one more market that the iPhone is being launched. But, for the iPhone to be really effective, it is imperative that 3G services are launched,” Mr Singhal said.

The Government has already started the process for the launch of 3G services. So, in less than a year, Indian consumers will be in a position to access 3G services, he added. So, the wait need not be too long!