So, you know that high-speed wireless Internet technology called 3G? Yeah, the one that the Indian government was going to start auctioning by January May September? Well, have we got a surprise for you: all signs point to another delay! Gosh, golly and holygwakamolie! Move over, Duke Nukem sequel, we have a new king of vapourware.
Apparently, in the Union Budget 2009-10, Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee and his merrymen had projected revenues of Rs 35,000 crore from the auction. Ah, but they forgot to factor in the fact that the recession might not get them the bids they are looking for. It’s a slight oversight, of course, when you consider that the Budget was drafted from May to July this year, and the global economic recession only hit in September-October last year. After all, New Delhi has plenty of rocks to crawl under for nine months, right?
But don’t you worry, folks, the government is going to rectify this situation. The Union Minster of Communication and Information Technology, Shri A. Raja, has already formed an Empowered Group of Ministers (EGoM) to look into issues relating to the spectrum auction and decide on the number of slots to be auctioned in the first phase. Who is heading this EgoM, you ask? Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee, of course! Reassuring, isn’t it?
Asked whether the Department of Telecom (DoT) has sought the first meeting of the EGoM, sources told LiveMint that the meeting is likely to take place soon, but confirmed that auction of spectrum may happen only in January-February next year.
So basically, when the world gets serious about 4G and WiMax, we will tout our technological developments with the introduction of – drum roll – 3G! Don’t you just love progress?
Sources: LiveMint