3G services are yet to be made available in even 90 per cent of A-grade circles in India, a goal that should be achieved by 2015 while the rest of the developed world moves onto to faster and better telecom technologies. But let’s not complain about this since service providers cannot push 3G down our throats until we’re willing to accept that someone needs to pay for progress.
Ericsson says that with network operators allotting more of their budget to 3G, roughly 90 per cent of 5 service areas including but not restricted to Gujarat, Maharashtra and Tamil Nadu, will have access to this technology by next year. Indian telecom companies will obviously be required to update their back-end infrastructure in order to ease the transition and fully support it.
Mobile internet is one of the main elements promoting the increasing use of 3G, with more and more people accessing social networking sites and online videos on their portable devices. Ericsson says that with just one 3G spectrum slot of 5MHz which 3G licensees can hold in India presently, they can deliver a maximum download speed of 21Mbps, as reported by The Financial Express.
Also see: DoT prepares schedule for cellular spectrum auctions
Operators are expected to need more carriers, or spectrum slot, to deliver high speed to customers. At the same time, consumers won’t be able to take advantage of faster networks unless they have compatible mobile phones or tablets. India’s mobile broadband user base is anticipated to increase to a whopping 500 million subscribers by the year 2020.
The idea of 3G services reaching 90 per cent of A-grade circles by 2015 may be well and good, but are Indians willing to pay more for higher speed and costlier devices in order to be properly benefited by this?