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Indian telecom firms fail to lure customers for 3G
By siliconindia
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Saturday, 04 April 2009, 00:01 IST |
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New Delhi: The third generation (3G) services have not yet aroused the interest among the mobile customers in India. State-owned telecom firms Bharat Sanchar Nigam (BSNL) and Mahanagar Telephone Nigam (MTNL), which offers telecom services in Mumbai and Delhi, have managed to rope in just 3,200 customers for their 3G services.
"We have 200-300 customers and hoped to roll out all over Delhi in a few months. I can't say how many subscribers we will have, but by the end of the year should have 2,000 to 3,000," MTNL Chairman RSP Sinha told Business Standard. Earlier, Cellular Operators Association of India (COAI) had projected that as much as 10 percent of the 375 million mobile customers would shift to 3G services in the first year of its launch. The public telecom firms captured the chance to be the first one to deploy the services in the country as the private players� entry into 3G services has been delayed over pricing controversies.
Currently, BSNL has roped in 3,000 customers in over 24 cities, on an average of 125 customers in each city including Agra, Ambala, Jalandhar, Jaipur, Dehradun, Shimla, Lucknow, Ranchi and Patna, among others. The company plans to further extend the service to 500 cities within the next three months.