Bharti Airtel 3G rollout on track

Bharti Airtel 3G rollout on track

Bharti Airtel, India's top mobile operator, is in the process of deploying 3G wireless services later this year and its chairman, was optimistic about offering high margin. The third generation (3G) would facilitate fast Internet on mobile phones and help operators increase data revenues in a market where voice calls to almost 90 percent of company revenue.

Bharti won licenses to offer 3G in 13 areas of India Telecommunications 22 at an auction that saw bids at levels much higher than expected. Bharti and his peers spent a total of over 23 billion dollars in licensing.

"For far too long, this industry has been under severe pressure," Bharti Airtel Chairman Sunil Mittal told reporters.

"I believe we are entering into a new era in telecommunications," he said, referring to the upcoming 3G services, and expected it to lead to "some margins coming back to the industry".

Bharti has been appointed by Ericsson, Nokia Siemens Networks and Huawei Technologies 3G devices on the network of partners and said it is negotiating alliances with other operators to offer 3G services to more than 13 areas where it has licenses.