Much hyped third generation services surfaced Indian Capital yesterday when government-run Mahanagar Telephone Nigam Ltd (MTNL) launched first Indian 3G network it presence of Mr. Manmohan Singh, Prime Minister of India
- Video Telephony – Customers will watch and talk simultaneously through Video Call.
- High speed internet for smart-phones and Laptop from 256 Kbps to 2 Mbps.
- Mobile TV
- Location surveillance
- Streaming Video on Demand
- Gaming and so on
- In 3G services, customers can get data speed of up to 2 Mbps, while the highest possible speed in GSM is only 50 Kbps and EDGE is 387 Kbps (this max speed on GSM and EDGE can vary depending on network).
- The usage of GPRS in Pakistan has increased significantly in recent months.
- In 2008, telecom companies were more focused on expanding and optimizing their network rather than investing money in 3G and building a whole new domain from scratch, though it offered promising opportunities and growth potential because the market was completely ready for 3G with the ever speeding mobile internet users.
We have reported several times about current economic down fall in telecom sector, especially after the 2008 budget in July. We know that telecom companies are not in any mood to invest money for 3G license and then network roll out. Instead they are more interested in expanding GSM network to reach uncovered areas for more customer acquisitions. Also they may consider optimizing network instead of offering a new facility from scratch.
But along with, PTA must create a better environment by forcing the government to minimize taxes on telecom services and equipment to reduce deployment cost.
Along with PTA should award 3G licences to existing operators.
Feb 2009
We know that 3G license auction was scheduled in March 2009, however, it is already mid February and we don’t see any sign of 3G coming to Pakistan in near future.
3G policy is still in Ministry of IT and apparently policy formulation is still in process. Once, policy will be prepared it will be sent to cabinet for approval and then PTA will be asked to implement it
there are rumors that couple of cellular company are arguing on opening bid price of 3G license, which is likely to be tagged at 105 million dollars. These 2 mobile companies are demanding 3G license to be priced at 7 million dollars, as WiMAX license was sold at 7 million dollar few years ago.
Besides all these delays, cellular companies don’t want to step into 3G as well, due to on-going recession and lowering revenues. They want to invest in their existing networks instead of rolling out new technologies.
- There would be three 3G licenses available for five operating cellular companies. Well, this is will be decided later on (through bidding) that who will win the license and vice versa. But before that, join me in this discussion if cellular companies should go for 3G or there is a room available in enhancement and bettering already available EDGE services to meet mobile broadband requirements.
- Every mobile operator is providing EDGE services through USB dongles or EDGE PCMCIA cards with different packages available ranging from hourly pricing to unlimited upload/download. But unfortunately, EDGE services are limited to major cities only while rest of Pakistan especially rural areas of country is left with GPRS in hands only – which is ‘Slow Speed note more than 3 Kb/s in many cases.
- We have earlier disclosed that Telenor is looking forward to 3G deployment in Pakistan. This time we have got this news that Telenor has actually started the swap process (2G to 3G) of the cell sites in Punjab region.
- April 2009
- Telenor Pakistan has reportedly agreed to award 3G network deployment contract to NSN (Nokia Siemens Networks) in Pakistan- Telenor’s spokesman didn’t confirm it and said that he can’t comment on the issue at this point of time; however, he was enthusiastic enough to validate that Telenor Pakistan is all set ready for 3G deployment and it is eagerly for 3G license auction.
3G License Auction in 1 month: Hafeezur Rehman
- By Mehwish Khan | April 20, 2009
- Long awaited 3G license is likely to be auctioned in three to four weeks, reported “The Peninsula” of Qatar, citing an interview with Hafeezur Rehman, Federal Secretary for Information Technology and Telecom.
