It seems that 4th generation mobile communication is going to be a serious play for all telecom players.Airtel, Vodafone and Idea are fighting against TRAI to enable Intra Circle Roaming Agreement to offer commercial 3G services in those circles they do not have 3G spectrum.
Experts are saying if 3G roaming can be made legal, it would be easier to make the roaming pact on upcoming 4G services legally acceptable.Currently 4G space in India is complicated- though none of the operators goes commercial it is obvious that pan India BWA license holder Reliance Infotel is playing the safest bet.
Reliance Industries already picks shares or inks agreements with different companies including TV channels, Siemens Security, e-Edu farm and cable operators to create contents for its 4G services.
Business Standard reported that Malaysian telecom player Axiata is eyeing some stakes in Tikona Digital.Tikona is a reputed ISP in India offering wireless broadband using MIMO on unlicensed spectrum in major cities.
In 2010 Tikona won BWA spectrum in 5 five key circles - Gujarat, Himachal Pradesh and Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh east and west—for over Rs 1,058 crore.
Now who is this Axiata?
Axiata has some stakes (>20%) in Idea Cellular. If the deal happens in future Idea/Aixata will welcome Airtel to their circles via ICRA like they are doing on 3G platform and Airtel will ascend another step to offer pan India 4G services to compete against Reliance Infotel.
But if Reliance Infotel plays the price game the future of these agreements are in trouble for sure!
