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Finally, we have a date - December 7 - for the 3G and WiMAX auctions to commence in India. The key issue that has repeatedly delayed the sale, agreement on the reserve prices, was settled last month, and though some more minor conflicts remain between the regulator, Department of Telecom and treasury, the government has decided to go ahead anyway. Of course, it is a long way from spectrum awards to commercial uptake, as the Chinese cellcos are finding - indeed, sales of GSM/EDGE equipment will outdo those of 3G kit in India for at least the next two years, and all the likely 3G winners are also expressing interest in upgrading 2G with new EDGE iterations.

This is a trend also being seen in China, where operators continue to push data services to rural areas via the highly efficient EDGE. Analysts indicated recently that the talks rumored to be ongoing between Apple and China Mobile are for an EDGE iPhone, not a TD-SCDMA version (which would have to be specially built). Mobile might be able to compromise on its determination that all its 3G apps and stores should be own-branded, a sticking point with Apple, and allow App Store onto its 2G network in the interests of reducing customer churn.

One of the Chinese operators has been working with Nokia Siemens on new generations of EDGE, and the vendor yesterday announced the world's first successful trial of EDGE Evolution Downlink Dual Carrier (DLDC) with an "unnamed" Chinese carrier (which has to be Unicom or Mobile, since Telecom has CDMA). This technology claims to double data speeds on EDGE networks and also boosts system resource efficiency to support more traffic. This would be just the sort of technology that could enable a decent iPhone experience even on a 2G network, and is also important in reducing the gap in user experience when a consumer moves from the 3G to the 2G network while roaming outside a 3G zone.

NSN said it conducted the trial initially in its Beijing development center and then replicated it in the operator's live network. "In addition to improving current radio networks' efficiency and protect operator investment, EDGE Evolution DLDC will positively influence GSM/LTE spectrum refarming, ensuring better overall usage of resources," said NSN.

Back in India, the DoT will start to accept bids for the six national 3G licenses on December 7 and candidates must submit any questions about the process by October 8. The government aims to raise about $35bn from the sale of these franchises and the WiMAX ones, which will be auctioned starting two days after the end of the 3G sale, along with CDMA2000 licenses.

State-owned telcos MTNL and BSNL are already rolling out WiMAX and LTE, as they are exempt from the auction process (though have to pay the same amount for their spectrum that the private firms end up paying at auction). MTNL is currently working with Alcatel-Lucent and ITI on its deployment of 3G in south and central Mumbai, aiming to attract 100,000 users by year end - but so far is reported to have only 400 3G subscribers across this region and Delhi.

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