India's BSNL Brings Forward 3G Launch Date to This December

India's BSNL has set itself a target of launching its 3G network before the end of this year - significantly sooner than the company had hinted at when it was granted a 3G license earlier this month. The company sent an internal memo to all its regional managers telling them to take the necessary action to prepare for a December launch.

BSNL had originally said that it would be launching its 3G network by next June - following deliveries of network kit from Ericsson. The deliveries were expected in December with a six month deployment - so it can be presumed that the company has already started to receive deliveries of kit.

The company said in the internal memo that the purchase ordered issued earlier this year for the north and eastern circles had been put on hold pending the allocation of 3G spectrum. As the spectrum is now available, those POs come into immediate effect. An estimated 10 million lines have been earmarked for the network launch.

The orders for 3G kit for the southern and western regions are apparently still on hold.

The Indian government recently announced that it will offer up to five 3G licenses with two reserved for the state controlled BSNL and MTNL, both of whom will get their licenses immediately, with the auctions for the initial licenses due within a couple of months.

BSNL recently delayed the date for opening its next monster tender for GSM and 3G infrastructure kit - worth US$6.5 billion. The bids were due to be opened on July 16 - but will now not be opened until August 30th. The unnamed official however warned that the company would review the commercial viability of its 3G network half way through the rollout - which could result in a renegotiation if customer interest proves unsatisfactory.

To fight growing competition, BSNL is looking to add at least 100 million GSM mobile subscribers by 2010. According to figures from the Mobile World database, the operator ended the first half of this year with some 37.36 million GSM subscribers - along with around 176,000 CDMA users.

Posted to the site on 20th August 2008