The present hot debate in the Indian Mobile Telecommunication Sector  is the much awaited auction of the 3G spectrum, which is scheduled early next year. A few months back when I did a post on When will India go 3G, I got a few reactions that India should worry more about Human Rights. Those were some strong words that still need action and we are still long way from it but not 3G. So in order to set you all at par with the two lettered word and also provide you with a little insight on how the change will bring in challenges to us I decided to do this post. So if you think you know about 3G then do share your point of view here and if you don’t then put forth your questions. But the basic point i want to debate is Are We Ready For 3G? So before we go on to take a look to its present scenario in India let us know a little more about 3G and its evolution. (Mind you countries like Japan have had 3G for more than 7 years now, so the live video streaming via mobiles you see in movies, particularly Tokyo Drift are actually real )

3G is the third generation of tele standards and technology for mobile networking, superseding 2.5G. It is based on the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) family of standards under the IMT-2000. 3G networks enable network operators to offer users a wider range of more advanced services while achieving greater network capacity through improved spectral efficiency. Services include wide-area wireless voice telephony, video calls, and broadband wireless data, all in a mobile environment. Additional features also include HSPA data transmission capabilities able to deliver speeds up to 14.4 Mbit/s on the downlink and 5.8 Mbit/s on the uplink.

Now with that we know what 3G is, courtesy wikipedia, lets take a look what this means in terms of the transition from the present 2G we have. 2G networks were built mainly for voice data and slow transmission. Due to rapid changes in user expectation, they do not meet today’s wireless needs. Evolution from 2G to 3G can be sub-divided into
following phases:

• 2G to 2.5G
• 2.5G to 2.75G
• 2.75G to 3G

So at present we are at 2.75G which is represented by EDGE capabilities, which itself is limited to only a handful of cities. So I really don’t know if 3G would be able to cover the entire nation but from the looks of it, it seems self suicidal, both for the users and network service providers. So I feel that even though network providers are ready to grab the 3G spectrum at auction, they will not receive the same enthusiasm from the users. Why? Well, because:

• Expensive input fees for the 3G service licenses
• Expense of 3G phones (Mind you, you need a UMTS Compatible Phone)
• Lack of buy-in by 2G mobile users for the new 3G wireless services
• Lack of coverage (With Delhi an Mumbai only on the list at present, big thumbs down)
• High prices of 3G mobile services (Well, it will not be as cheap as 2G is what I can say at present)
• Current lack of user need for 3G voice and data services in a hand-held device

In my next post I will highlight how various network providers are gearing up for this auction. After that quick overview of how 3G is coming up here I want to ask you a simple question and the answer will automatically give you a hint if you need to migrate to this new service or not. So my question is :

How often do you share your media online using your GPRS or EDGE via your cellular device?