Contents
Telecom Industry............................................................................................. .......4
Major Players.........................................................................................................6
How 3G works?....................................................................................................11
Telecom Industry
The Indian telecommunications industry is one of the fastest growing in the world and India
is projected to become the second largest telecom market globally by 2010.India added
113.26 million new customers in 2008, the largest globally. In fact, in April 2008, India had
already overtaken the US as the second largest wireless market. To put this growth into
perspective, the country’s cellular base witnessed close to 50 per cent growth in 2008, with an
average 9.5 million customers added every month.
According to the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI), the total number of
telephone connections (mobile as well as fixed) had touched 385 million as of December
2008, taking the telecom penetration to over 33 per cent. This means that one out of every
three Indians has a telephone connection, and telecom companies expect this pace of growth
to continue in 2009 as well.
Major Players
There are three types of players in telecom services:
• -State owned companies (BSNL and MTNL)
• -Private Indian owned companies (Reliance Infocomm, Tata Teleservices,)
• -Foreign invested companies (Hutchison-Essar, Bharti Tele-Ventures,
Escotel, Idea Cellular, BPL Mobile, Spice Communications)
What is 3G?
3G (Third Generation) is the latest wireless technology. It is also known as UMTS (Universal
Mobile Telecommunications System), an improvement over 2G (Second Generation)
providing wireless access to the data and information to the users from anywhere and
anytime. It is the latest mobile technology and in fact it is described by Cellular (2004) as
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Impact of 3G & 3G Norms in India
Evolution from 2G to 3G
Evolution Of 3G Technology:
1G:
First-generation wireless telephone technology, cell phones. These are the
analog cell phone also known as AMPS that were introduced in the 1980s.
2G:
Digital mobile phones, including those that use GSM, CDMA or TDMA networks,
are the second generation phones. 2G networks were built mainly for voice data
and slow transmission. They offer data-transfer rates ranging from 9.6 kb/s to
19.2 kb/s.
2.5G :
Technologies such as i-mode data services, camera phones, high-speed circuit-
switched data (HSCSD) and General packet radio service (GPRS) that provide
some functionality domains like 3G networks, but without the full transition to 3G
network. Interim hardware and software solutions are emerging that promise to
have real or perceived data transfer rates ranging from 56 kb/s to 170 kb/s.
3G:
Third-generation digital-phone networks will have a nominal maximum data rate
of 2 Mb/s, which can handle streaming video, two-way voice over IP, and Internet
content with high-quality graphics and plug-ins to a wireless phone.
According to Ericsson, 3G is a generic term that actually describes different
flavors of wireless:
Code Division Multiple Access 2000 (CDMA2000) :
CDMA2000, also known as IS-136 and IMT-CDMA Multi-Carrier (1X/3X) is a radio
transmission technology for the evolution of narrowband cdmaOne/IS-95 to 3rd-
generation adding up multiple carriers. cdma2000 will be deployed in two
phases.
• Mergers will not be allowed during the initial five years. No trading/
reselling of spectrum is allowed.
• The CDMA spectrum in 800 MHz band for EV-DO applications would be
treated separately from 2.1 GHz spectrum. If the CDMA based service
provider(s) ask for the EV-DO carrier of 2 x 1.25 MHz, they would have
to pay an amount proportionate to the highest bid for spectrum in 2.1
GHz band.
Implementation Of 3G Technology:
➢ BSNL and MTNL will be allotted one slot of the 3G spectrum.
➢ Five operators will be allotted the 3G spectrum at present and five more
operators are likely to be allotted the spectrum on a later date.
Suggestions:
➢ The cost of upgrading base stations and cellular infrastructure to 3G is
very high.
➢ Requires different handsets and there is the issue of handset availability.
➢ Base stations need to be closer to each other (more cost).
➢ Tremendous spectrum-license costs, network deployment costs, handset
subsidies to subscribers, etc.
➢ High power requirements.
➢ High spectrum licensing fees for the 3G services
➢ Huge capital required to build infrastructure for 3G services.
➢ Health impact of electromagnetic waves.
➢ Prices are very high for 3G mobile services.
➢ Will 2G users switch to 3G services.
➢ Takes time to catch up as the service is new