Bharti Airtel on Tuesday said it has successfully tested 3G applications with various equipment suppliers and is all set to start services as and when the spectrum was allocated.
"We have tested 3G applications at three places – Delhi, Mumbai and Bangalore – on a trial indoor spectrum given to us," Bharti Airtel President (Mobility) Sanjay Kapoor said.
The Department of Telecom (DoT) has already announced to allot 3G spectrum through auction and the existing players like Airtel are gearing to start 3G service which enables subscribers much faster downloading facility and also wireless broadband.
Asked whether Bharti Airtel has the technology to offer 3G mobile services, Kapoor said, "We as an operator have 3G services in Seychelles. Our license for Sri Lanka is for 3G services as well and by the time 3G services are launched in India we will have enough experience.
"Moreover, we have SingTel as our partner who has wide experience of offering 3G services," he said adding that for an operator who has 2G operations, 3G is just an incremental service.
On the equipment suppliers, with whom Bharti tested the services, Kapoor declined to specify their names but said they engaged more than one network companies.
Currently Swedish network company Ericsson and Nokia of Finland are vying for market share in the 3G space besides Chinese companies like Huawei and ZTE.
Bharti Airtel has offered the 3G services contract to Huawei in Sri Lanka. "Once we start here we will negotiate with all the players before taking a final decision," Kapoor said.
Asked how long the company would take to offer services once the spectrum was alloted, he said, "We will take 6-9 months from the date of allotment of spectrum. But we are still waiting for the final guidelines to be announced by the DoT."
On the issue wi-max, Bharti official said the High Speed Data Packet Access (HSDPA) would be the right technology for wireless broadband as this is a tested technology in various parts of the world.
He also said the company is getting applications ready for the 3G contents. "We have started working on that and should be ready by the time services start."