"It is not too early for India to think of licensing and introducing 3G. It takes 12-18 months for implementing networks after the 3G licences are given. If there is
licensing for 3G by the end of 2005 in India, like in the case of big emerging countries like Brazil, Russia, China, India could catch up with them," Jean Pierre Bienaime, chairman, Universal Mobile Telecom Services said.
India still has plenty of time to issue 3G licences as the other emerging markets have not yet issued 3G licenses. But India should not delay too much in 3G if it has to compete with China. China is expected to issue 3G licences by mid 2005, he said.
"India has not been able to focus on 3G as the penetration rates of telephones were very low. So the basic need has to be covered first while China is a bit ahead," he said.
Now with over 50 million mobile subscribers, I think it is time to think of 3G licences even if it would not be applied in rural areas and will be limited to dense urban areas," he said.
On the controversial issue of 1900 Mhz band claimed by both GSM and CDMA operators for expansion of their respective services, Bienaime said India must settle the regulatory issues first and stay with the 'global consensus' on spectrum allocation for 3G by reserving the whole IMT 2000 'core band' 1920-1980/2110-2170) for such services.
