Timely access to spectrum is essential for India to keep pace with mobile broadband developments worldwide.

3G industry association the UMTS Forum (www.umts-forum.org) congratulates India’s Ministry of Communications & IT for having publicly presented and clarified on 12 December at India Telecoms 2008 the details of licensing and other conditions for the 3G & BWA auctions that are expected to take place by end January 2009. At present India has over 325 million mobile subscribers, projected to increase to 650 million by end 2012.


The UMTS Forum applauds Honourable Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh who put India on the global 3G map on 11 December when he launched 3G services on the state-owned MTNL network in Delhi, initiating the country’s first video call and viewing live television on a 3G-enabled handset.

The UMTS Forum has urged India’s national administration to carry out and complete the 3G and BWA auctions in a time bound manner in order to encourage the commercial success of mobile broadband systems built on 3GPP cellular standards...more