India may have 90 mn 3G users in next 3 years

India's 3G subscriber base may shoot up to 90 million over the next three years, as companies gauge huge revenue potential in the country's fast-growing value added services market, an industry player said.

"India's 3G subscriber base is likely to touch 90 million by 2013. It is estimated that five to seven per cent of mobile handsets would be 3G-enabled by 2010-2011. This is a large opportunity for all participants in the 3G area," Nazara Technologies' chief executive officer, Nitish Mittersain, told PTI.

Nazara Technologies, a mobile content provider that creates games, expects to generate revenues worth Rs 100 crore (Rs 1 billion) from mobile games within the first year of 3G's launch.

Applications like caller tunes, ad tunes, live TV, video-viewing, and gaming would be keyed up, he said.

"Making multimedia available will help growth of mobile advertising. The value added services market in India accounts for 9-10 per cent of total revenue of telecom operators, with SMS alone accounting for 44 per cent of that share," Mittersain said.

"Over 400 million people in India now own mobile phones and voice is increasingly becoming a commodity. 3G is increasingly becoming synonymous with value-added applications," Mittersain said.

India will throw open the auction of airwaves for offering 3G mobile services to state-run, private and foreign operators in the current fiscal, Telecom Minister, A Raja, has said.

Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited and Mahanagar Telephone Nigam Limited currently offer 3G services in select pockets of the country like Mumbai, Delhi and the National Capital Region.

India expects to generate revenues worth Rs 25,000 crore (Rs 250 billion) from the auction of 3G spectrum as various foreign players aim to have a share of the pie in India's fast-growing wireless market.

Mittersain said the Indian telecommunication sector has witnessed a gigantic growth in the past and that it was time to expand the reach of new technology in India's growing small towns.

"An ever-burgeoning ecosystem of network providers, device-makers, content-providers, and application-developers are making sure that there is something for everyone. As non-voice applications grow, a 3G network will permit faster access of data from and to the Internet," he added.