At the closer of the India's 3G auctions, most of bidders including the biggies Bharti Airtel, Vodafone, Reliance Communications(Rcom), Aircel and Tata Teleservices (TTSL-Tata Docomo) emerging 3G airwaves winners for limited telecom circles.
No single bidder bid for a pan-India 3G license so state operator Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd (BSNL) would be remain the biggest 3G operator in India. The absence of any pan-India 3G licence winner amongst all private operators, brings the good news for state-run telecom opertors BSNL and Mahanagar Telephone Nigam Ltd (MTNL). Almost all the private operator needs the 3G Roaming agreement with BSNL or any other operator in the services area or circles where they themselves failed to win 3G spectrum.
Tata Teleservices (TTSL) which has bagged 3G spectrum only in nine circles already said that "To enable our subscribers get seamless 3G connectivity in other circles, we are in talks with state operator BSNL and MTNL for a 3G roaming agreement.”
The BSNL and MTNL together are the only service providers to have 3G spectrum across all the 22 circles as mots of private operators will have to approach them for intra-circle "3G Roaming Services" in the services area/circles where they themselves failed to win 3G spectrum.
India's largest 2G GSM service provider Bharti Airtel,Reliance Communications (RCOM) and Aircel, each won 3G Spectrum in 13 out of 22 telecom circles while other major operators, Vodafone Essar, Idea Cellular and Tata won a total of 9, 11 and 9 circles, respectively.
Sources in the private operators also said that they were exploring an alliance with state operator BSNL/MTNL, they has 3G Spectrum and services in all circles as it would be a only solution as against stitching alliances with several firms across the country.
