India to experience 4G services as early as Jan – to cost nearly as much as 3G!

                                 Yes, that’s what it looks like – According to the news appearing on TMI, mobile users in Indian states of Madhya Pradesh & Chhattisgarh may experience 4G services as early as January 2012.

3G has not taken off in India – Infact, many users (including yours truly) have moved back to GPRS / Edge internet even though 3G is available.

                                Although, telecom providers are offering attractive discounts and schemes on 3G services, the adoption rate has been quite low. One of the main reasons being extremely poor & erratic speeds, that also affects basic voice calls.

                                Now, even as 3G services is struggling with its adoption rate, Augere Wireless Broadband India, who bagged BWA spectrum for those 2 states are planning to launch 4G services in Bhopal by January and by April in 14 cities of Madhya Pradesh & Chhattisgarh. Augere Wireless will be offering 4G broadband services under their “ZOOSH” brand.

                                  Incase, you are not aware – 4G stands for fourth generation of mobile communication technology  through TD-LTE (Time-Division Long-Term Evolution), which will enhance user’s experience of faster wireless broadband including web, online gaming and video streaming even while on the move. It essentially provides much faster internet speeds as compared to 3G services.

                                    The TMI article also states that the 4G services will be priced nearly equivalent to what users they pay for existing 3G data services. In my personal opinion, the cost of HAS to come down for users to adopt these services, be it 4G or even 3G. The prices are just too high for most of the mobile users.

And one of the most important aspects for 4G adoption will also depend on 4G enabled mobile handsets – Currently, we don’t even have a single 4G enabled handset being sold in India.

                                      It is going to be interesting to see when & how other BWA spectrum holders will launch their 4G services. Reliance is the only one who have Pan-India BWA license. Other companies who hold BWA spectrum include Aircel (8 circles), Tikona Wireless (5 circles), Airtel (4 circles) and Qualcomm (4 circles).

What’s your take? Do you think 4G services will get popular in India?