In last blogs of the series we have seen why 3G could not deliver said performance after launch. Here, I would like to support my arguments for 3G services subscription. We are still betting on numbers. Remember one thing; China has tremendous potential for 3G services, even better than India.

I am still a proponent of 3G, you know why? I said in my last blog, 3G will benefit operators in increasing ARPU figures. (Other ways are M&A with high ARPU operator like Bharti-MTN deal or diversify or go global etc) There is no shortest path for it. But according to Instat survey, there are 11% subscribers using 3G services currently and number is going to increase to 28% by 2013. Are those figures small or large? We have no clue!

So even though Plam Pre is released in US or Apple 3GS will be launched on 19June, (remember both devices run on 3G) most of the people in the world aren't privileged to have access to such world class facilities. So be it Smart Phones or Access Networks.

Then, Allen Nogee, the analyst who gathered the data, calls both LTE and WiMAX pre-4G because they haven’t been certified as true 4G standards yet by the ITU. Then, he says only 2 percent of the world’s subscriptions — about 110 million — will be on pre-4G networks by 2013. It’s just a reminder that despite large carriers such as Verizon and NTTDoCoMo pushing the LTE envelope, the world is still a big place with billions of cell phone subscribers on old networks.

What is the message for Telecom Operators in India? We are optimistic about 3G auctions in coming moths in India. We have already kept CAPEX aside for 3G Infra rollouts. But despite that, we don't know when revenues will start coming in from 3G services. It's a tough call to go on 3G or not. Yes, it is true that both 2G/3G coexists in India; there are fewer chances that 3G will grab a large piece of cake initially. We are no gadget freaks neither do we have access to mobiles in rural areas. We are just betting on smart population residing in few metros. 3G has no mass appeal yet. Better wait & watch.

(If you want to know Global Census of Population, check it at http://gigaom.com/2009/06/11/despite-the-iphone-its-still-a-2g-world/)

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