The Hindu Business Line : `3G for All' campaign on

The race begins
The success of GSMA's emerging market initiative is driving force.
Under phase I, 12 operators will select a flagship 3G handset designed to appeal to the mass-market.
Winning handset will be announced at the 3GSM World Congress in Barcelona in February 2007.

MR CRAIG EHRLICH

Singapore , Oct. 16

In a move that promises to bring down 3G mobile handsets price drastically, 12 leading mobile operators spanning six continents have come together under the GSM Association's `3G for All' campaign, wherein a handset manufacturer will be selected to produce low-cost 3G handsets.

Almost 10 different handset vendors have expressed interest to undertake this project. The first low-cost 3G handset is expected to hit the market by April 2007.

The initiative is similar to the GSM Association's emerging market initiative which had helped to bring down the handset price for GSM-based handsets to less $25. Motorola, which won that contract, has sold 22 million low-cost handsets since then mostly in countries such as India and Bangladesh.

Speaking to Business Line at the 3GSM World Congress Asia, Mr Craig Ehlrich, Chairman of the GSMA and a board member of Hutchison Mobile Communication, said, "We hope to replicate the success of the emerging markets initiative to make 3G more affordable since handset cost is one of the significant barriers for the uptake of 3G services across the world. The size and geographic breadth of the companies steering this campaign demonstrates the importance the global operator community attaches to making 3G a mass-market phenomena."

In the first phase of the campaign, Cingular Wireless, Globe Telecom, Hutchison 3G, KTF, MTN, Orange, Smart, Telecom Italia, Telefonica, Telenor, T-Mobile and Vodafone will select a flagship 3G handset designed to appeal to the mass-market. Once the design and the vendor are selected by these operators, the product will be made available to other operators, including those in India. Operators in India are looking to deploy 3G services by early next year once policy issues get resolved.

3G mobile phones will offer advanced services such as high-speed Internet browsing, mobile TV and instant messaging. The cheapest 3G-enabled handset at present costs Rs 16,000.

Selection process

"Over the next few months, the 12 operators will evaluate and score the proposals submitted by handset vendors against the following criteria - functionality, usability, logistics, market acceptance, target price, service and support, strategic commitment and form factor," said a GSMA press release. The handset with the highest score will be endorsed as the official `3G for All' phone by the GSMA. The winning handset will be announced at the 3GSM World Congress in Barcelona in February 2007.