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3G or 3rd generation mobile telecommunications is a generation of standards for mobile phones and

mobile telecommunication services fulfilling the International Mobile Telecommunications-2000 (IMT-

2000) specifications by the International Telecommunication Union. Application services include wide-

area wireless voice telephone, mobile Internet access, video calls and mobile TV, all in a mobile

environment. To meet the IMT-2000 standards, a system is required to provide peak data rates of at

least 200 kbit/s. Recent 3G releases, often denoted 3.5G and 3.75G, also provide mobile broadband

access of several Mbit/s to smartphones and mobile modems in laptop computers.

History

The first pre-commercial 3G network was launched byNTT DoCoMo in Japan, branded as

FOMA. It was first available in May 2001 as a pre-release (test) ofW-CDMA technology. Thefirst commercial launch of 3G was also by NTT DoCoMo in Japan on 1 October 2001, although

it was initially somewhat limited in scope; broader availability of the system was delayed byapparent concerns over its reliability.

By June 2007, the 200 millionth 3G subscriber had been connected. Out of 3 billion mobile phone

subscriptions worldwide this is only 6.7%. In the countries where 3G was launched first Japan and

South Korea 3G penetration is over 70%. In Europe the leading country is Italy with a third of its

subscribers migrated to 3G. Other leading countries by 3G migration include UK, Austria, Australia and

Singapore at the 20% migration level. A confusing statistic is counting CDMA2000 1x RTT customers as if

they were 3G customers. If using this definition, then the total 3G subscriber base would be 475 million

at June 2007 and 15.8% of all subscribers worldwide.

Adoption

3G was relatively slow to be adopted globally due to the expenses of upgrading transmission

hardware, especially forUMTS, whose deployment required the replacement of most broadcasttowers. Due to these issues and difficulties with deployment, many carriers were not able to or

delayed acquisition of these updated capabilities.

In December 2007, 190 3G networks were operating in 40 countries and 154 HSDPA networkswere operating in 71 countries, according to the Global Mobile Suppliers Association (GSA). In

Asia, Europe, Canada and the USA, telecommunication companies use W-CDMA technology

with the support of around 100 terminal designs to operate 3G mobile networks.

Roll-out of 3G networks was delayed in some countries by the enormous costs of additional

spectrum licensing fees. (See Telecoms crash.) The license fees in some European countrieswereparticularly high, bolstered by government auctions of a limited number of licenses and

sealed bid auctions, and initial excitement over 3G's potential.

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India

The auction of 3G spectrum is under control of Department of Telecommunication (DoT).

Currently only frequency band of 2.1 GHz will be used to serve 3G technology and it is forauction. This will cover about 90% metro areas of India as well as 15% of rural parts of country.

11 December 2008, India entered the 3G arena with the launch of 3G enabled Mobile and Dataservices by Government owned Mahanagar Telephone Nigam Ltd MTNL in Delhi and later in

Mumbai.MTNL becomes the first 3G Mobile service provider in India. After MTNL, anotherstate operator Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd. (BSNL)launched 3G services on 22 Feb 2009 in

Chennai and later launched 3G as Nationwide. The auction of 3G wireless spectrum wasannounced in April 2010 and 3G Spectrum allocated to all private operators on 1 September

2010.

The first Private-sector service provider that launched 3G services is Tata DoCoMo, onNovember 5, 2010. And the second is by Reliance Communications, December 13, 2010.

Vodafone Launched their 3G by mid of March,2011 . Then, Bharti Airtel launched their 3Gservices on 24 January 2011 in Bangalore and also launched in Delhi & Jaipur on March 4,

2011(not GSM but only USB estick). Aircel also launched 3G in Kolkata in the month ofFebruary.Idea also launched its 3G services in mid April. Other providers like Virgin are

expected to launch 3G services by Q1 2011.

All the operators provide 3G services on the 2100 MHz band. As of now, the Government ownedBSNL is the most successful company with the subscribers of 3G service. It has more than 3

million subscribers of its 3G service. It also has the widest coverage with around 826 citiesacross the country. The private operators like IDEA and Reliance are increasing their 3G

coverage as well as the number of subscribers.

The 3G service is used by the minority users in the country who own 3G handsets and the prices

of the 3G services are currently out of reach of the pockets of most Indians. This led to the slowadoption of 3G. but the scenario is changing quickly with the introduction of cheap 3G handsets.