NO THREE CHEERS

The 3G ads on TV impress. The flying superhero, a movie star in triple avatars—they lure users into a fantastic world of superfast data transfers. Sadly, the real India is yet to experience the wonders of 3G.

The Third Generation (3G) of standards for mobile communications was expected to usher in unheard of services: video calling, data access at speeds between 2 Mbps and 7 Mbps, downloading of video or song in five seconds, telemedicine, mobile education and much more. Expectations were high given the smooth operations of 3G services by MTNL and BSNL since 2009. But long after the last gavel banged in the spectrum auctions, there’s only a feeling of despondency.

Says Adish Jain, a disappointed Airtel customer from Delhi, “3G was shoved down my throat by my operator without my consent. Even after repeated requests to deactivate the service, there was no response from the operator. When I tried using the service, my phone became ‘unreachable’. And the 3G speed has proved no better than what I get over EDGE.”Jain is not alone. G&G’s own experience has been similar. After activating 3G on a Airtel connection, we found the network bars dropping to one. Initially, we got speeds up to 1.5 Mbps but within few days, they dropped drastically, varying between 0.05 Mbps and 0.7 Mbps downlink. Although speeds on Vodafone proved decent enough, the company’s 3G network was not functioning in certain parts of the city. Reliance’s was the best of the private lot. Rates during numerous speed tests never dipped below 3.5 Mbps downlink and the network was stable.

MTNL, surprisingly for a state-owned enterprise, has some content customers. A Mumbai-based MTNL subscriber said, “In Mumbai, my experience of Vodafone 3G services was bad and Airtel was just about average. Reliance GSM offered good speeds. However, I am fully satisfied with MTNL 3G.”Similarly, the government’s BSNL too has been providing good 3G services. Deepak Chan from Chennai experienced 3G services on Aircel and BSNL and reported that while Aircel had good signal strength with lower speeds, it was BSNL which offered good coverage with good speeds.

While the promise has not materialised fully, the cost of 3Gis proving a deterrent. Vichitra Vij, a Kerala-based Tata Docomo user, points out, “The signal is often weak when I use a 3G USB stick. The services do compensate, but overall 3G is super expensive at the moment.”

So why are consumers not getting their money’s worth of 3G?

Tower trouble:Normally, speeds on the 3G network depends on various factors, including the handset used for accessing the service, the number of signal towers in a given coverage area, network traffic on the web portal one is trying to access and the number of users using the service at a given point of time. It is here that the older service providers suffered. Because Reliance is relatively a new player in the GSM domain, its towers were 3G ready and when the time came to roll out 3G services it was in an advantageous position. The decade-old Airtel and Vodafone, on the other hand, had to implant 3G services into the existing 2G tower system and this required upgrading technologies. Says Romal Shetty, executive director, telecommunications, of professional services firm KPMG: “The main reason behind these issues is the networks for 2G and 3G. Rolling out a fresh network is much easier in comparison to upgrading an existing network. This is exactly what is happening in India. Selecting towers and upgrading them phase by phase takes time. Things should be streamlined by the year end.”

Pan-India licence:The lack of a licence to operate 3G services across the country is another big challenge for the operators. On 3G roaming, for instance, the user may suddenly find his services switching back to 2.5G network in areas that his service provider is not licensed to provide 3G. While the companies are trying to sew up roaming agreements since January, nothing concrete has been worked out yet.

When queried, the telecom operators chose not to respond to specifics. The only comment we got from Airtel was, “We are currently in talks with other telecom providers for collaboration in offering 3G services across the country. The tie-up will be on the lines of the roaming pact that telecom companies follow for 2G services and would help Airtel customers’ access seamless 3G services even while roaming in any of the nine circles where Airtel does not have the 3G licence.”

2G scam fallout:The mess in the telecom industry following the expose of the 2G scandal has also had its effects. Many companies are under a cloud (they might lose their licence altogether)and none of the operators are certain about which company they should choose for a roaming agreement.

Not 3G alone:Sadly for consumers, not only have 3G services not been the magic of modern communication, but even their non-frill 2G services have been affected. There has been a sudden increase in call drops, and Net access via EDGE has hit snail’s speed post the launch of 3G services. However, P Balaji, VP , Communications, Corporate Affairs & Business Development, Ericsson, clarifies,“2G and 3G can run parallel for different end-user requirements without impacting current services whatsoever. 3G only provides a platform to meet the future demands for mobile broadband services.”

Days to come:Experts feel that the current state of affairs is but teething troubles that will be sorted out soon. Of course, that will still not bring an end to the disaffection among 3G subscribers if relevant content is not created. Till now, the Indian telecom market has been driven by voice. The only downloads were ring back tones, cricket updates and astrology. 3G is an enabler for high speed data access. It needs an environment where developers can create Indian specific content.