BSNL

Dell'Oro: CDMA infrastructure market took a hit in 2Q

Lynnette Luna — Thu, 21 Aug 2008 20:19:52 -0400

The Dell'Oro Group says that the worldwide CDMA infrastructure market fell more than 25 percent from the year ago quarter as Verizon Wireless and Sprint cut back on CDMA spending. The firm says Verizon Wireless' capex was down about $150 million, while Sprint's capex was down nearly $1 billion. "As a result of this contraction in North America, North America's share of the CDMA market fell to approximately two-thirds share, from over three-quarters share in the second quarter last year. Growth in Asia Pacific, particularly in India, helped to offset these declines," said Scott Siegler, analyst with the group's Mobility Infrastructure group. "In the quarter, Reliance, Tata and BSNL continued to see solid CDMA subscriber growth and continued to invest in the growth of their CDMA networks. However, we believe the region will experience declines in the second half of the year, as we expect all three operators to begin to focus more capital towards their GSM networks." Release

India's BSNL delays $6.5B GSM tender

Lynnette Luna — Tue, 22 Jul 2008 11:54:16 -0400

India's Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd. (BSNL) is delaying its massive $6.5 billion tender for GSM infrastructure. The bids were supposed to be opened on July 16 but now won't be opened until Aug. 30. BSNL said it has been flooded by bids and needs time to address them all. The tender calls for 93 million GSM lines and garnered some 21,000 queries from vendors after the draft tender was posted on the operator's website, officials said. Article

India could see 3G, WiMAX in 2009

Lynnette Luna — Thu, 29 May 2008 10:40:41 -0400

India, which is expected to become a hotbed for wireless broadband services, could see 3G and more WiMAX deployments by 2009. The Indian government is expected to issue guidelines on the auction of both 3G and WiMAX network licenses next month.

According to telecom minister Andimuthu Raja, the license conditions would allow foreign participation. According to Indian law, up to 74 percent of an Indian company can be held by a foreign company. With the recent M&A activity and rumors surrounding the country's existing mobile operators, these licenses should attract a plethora of foreign operators.

The Indian government expects to see WiMAX and 3G networks begin rolling out in January 2009. The initial WiMAX plans laid out by the Indian government include the auction of three 2.5 GHz WiMAX licenses with a 10-megahertz allocation each for the winners. State-owned BSNL has already been handed 20 megahertz of spectrum in the 2.5GHz band for mobile WiMAX rollout.

For more about India's 3G and WiMAX plans:
- check out this telecoms.com article

Related stories:
Gartner: India to remain a niche market for WiMAX. Read this WiMAX India story
MTN and Reliance could form mobile-phone powerhouse. See this MTN-Reliance story