The Hindu Business Line : BSNL’s 3G telecom service to roll out in December

New call: Mr A. Raja, Union Minister of Communications and IT, with Mr R. Ashok (left), Telecom Commission Member (Finance), and Mr K. Sridhara, Member (Technology), at a press conference in Chennai on Friday.

Our Bureau

Chennai, Oct. 10 The Prime Minister, Dr Manmohan Singh, will roll out BSNL’s 3G telecom service in Delhi in December, according to the Union Minister of Communications and Information Technology, Mr A. Raja.

In Chennai, the service will be available from January 2009 with the Chief Minister, Mr M. Karunanidhi, to launch the service on the day of the harvest festival, ‘Pongal.’

Mr Raja said N M Rothschild and Sons (India) Pvt Ltd would conduct the auction for 3G and WiMax spectrum for private players. DoT had earlier short-listed three agencies, including Mjunction.

The 3G service, which Mr Raja described as a ‘rich man’s service,’ will include voice, IPTV (Internet protocol television) and high-speed data transfer.

BSNL was given permission to roll out the 3G services ahead of the private sector players and it would pay the government the fees equivalent to those to be paid by the L1 bidder, he told newspersons.

On the BSNL IPO, Mr Raja said “We are still in discussion with unions.”

Mr Raja called for the press meet, his first in Chennai since assuming charge as Communications Minister a year ago, to deny allegations in the local media of irregularities in 2G spectrum allotment.

“We will terminate the contract if any favouritism was shown to any operator in 2G allotment,” he said when asked about the basis of allotment of spectrum to Swan Telecom.

“The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India has recommended the continuance of the old policy of allocation of spectrum at a pre-determined price on a first-cum-first served basis.

This is being followed by the DoT and the Unified Access Service licence holders are being allocated spectrum as per this policy,” he said.

The Minister spent more than an hour explaining to media persons the policy beginning from the 1999 National Telecom Policy to the latest 3G spectrum.

“Let me clear all the misconceptions that media persons may have,” he said.

After the long explanation and taking a few questions, Mr Raja tried to end the press meet but journalists continued with their queries.

“You called us. Please explain to us the basis of allotment to Swan,” asked a newsperson.

“I have explained all that you wanted. If you want more, you are welcome to file RTI (Right to Information),” he said.

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