Advantage for Bharti, Vodafone in 3G bids

Bharti Airtel and Vodafone Essar are at the most advantageous position for the upcoming 3G spectrum auction in the most lucrative and competitive circles of Delhi and Mumbai.

As per the schedule announced by the department of telecommunications (DoT) on Friday, 3G auctions would be held on January 15.

The Delhi and Mumbai circles have emerged as the most competitive as these two metro circles would be able to notch up the maximum subscribers in the 3G services fold, which enables faster download of data and video streaming on mobile phones.

The two circles have also emerged as the toughest because of the paucity of 3G spectrum in the 2.1 Ghz band here. For instance, Delhi has only three blocks of 5 mhz spectrum, of which one is reserved and already allocated to the state-owned Mahanagar Telephone Nigam Ltd (MTNL).

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October adds highest ever mobile subscribers at 10.42million

During these times of cutbacks there’s one thing which Indians are buying in abundance—mobile connections. During the month of October the country added the highest-ever addition to the mobile subscriber base at 10.42 million taking the total number of mobile users to over 325 million, according to the data released by the Telecom ReThe landline wireline segment saw the subscriber base falling to 38.22 million in Octgulatory Authority of India (Trai). India already has the distinction of being the world’s fastest growing telecom market.

During the month of September, the total(GSM, CDMA and WLL) addition was of 10.07 million.

However, the net addition of about 10.29 million users (wireline and wireless) during the month, could have been higher but for the decline in the landline user base. ober from 38.35 million in September. During September the net addition stood at 9.79 million. The total number of both wireless and wireline users now stand at 363.95 million, Trai said.

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Vodafone may enter MTN race

The bidding war for South African telecom major MTN may have just started, with the largest telecom company by revenues, Vodafone, too eyeing MTN. According to foreign media reports, the company is examining a £20 billion ($39.02 billion) bid for MTN.

However, a Vodafone spokesperson told a foreign news agency in London that, “we have no intention of pursuing a bid for MTN.” Vodafone is the second largest mobile operator with about 250 million subscribers worldwide and acquisition of MTN would add the latter’s 68 million users to its fold, taking it closer to China Mobile, which is the world’s largest mobile company by subscriber base close to 400 million.

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Tatas go ahead with BlackBerry

Tata Teleservices (TTSL) has decided to proceed with the roll out of BlackBerry services, without waiting for the government permission.

The company has told the government the delay was costing it "significant loss of business opportunity and recurring revenues."

The company's step is significant as it was TTSL's application seeking permission to launch the BlackBerry services that alerted the government that the services gave no means for lawful interception. The department if telecommunication had therefore denied TTSL permission to start the services.

Other operators like Bharti Airtel, Vodafone Essar, BPL and Reliance Communications currently offer BlackBerry services. Apparently, these companies never sought the government's approval for launching the services.

The operators maintain that around the time they launched the services there was no specific provi sion mandating an approval. However, the officials contest the point.

In a recent communication to the department of telecommunications (DoT)-a copy of which is with FETTSL has written, "we are proceeding with the rollout of BlackBerry services and undertake that whatever solution is arrived at by the government through its deliberations with the BlackBerry suppliers and the operators currently offering such services will be applicable to us also, in the manner that it is made applicable to the other operators."

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