Ahmedabad: With the country currently embroiled in the 2G spectrum scam and telecom players struggling with 3G business, news of Tikona Digital Networks planning to launch 4G technology in Gujarat within 18 months comes as an irony.
Tikona Digital Networks, after spending close to Rs 600 crore onspectrum and licence in Gujarat, ispulling all stops to launch next generation for data downloads. Company is expected to introduce4G in Gujarat in next one and a half years. After 4G’s introduction,a 5 mb song can be downloaded in fractions of a second. Broadband speed under this technology is expected to be around 10 mbps while under 3G it stands at 2 mbps.
“We had paid Rs 1,058 crore, or 8% of a pan India BWA licence forspectrum in Gujarat, Uttar Pradesh(east and west), Rajasthan and Himachal Pradesh in June last year. For Gujarat alone, we have paid around Rs 600 crore,” said Heramab Ranade, head of marketing, Tikona Digital Networks.
Tikona presently offers wired broadband services in Ahmedabad, Vadodara, Rajkot and Surat. “It has been a year now (of their presence in Gujarat). Now the future is wireless technology and we have won spectrum as well as licence for 4G or LTE in Gujarat.
We expect to launch its services in next 18 months,” said Ranade. Targeting the youth and broadband users of Gujarat, Tikona will offer 4G services on computers as well as mobile devices.
“Under 4G, the speed will be tremendous. Data can be downloaded at 10 mbps with prices remaining competitive,” he said. According to Ranade, penetration of computers and broadband internet are set increase with introduction of 4G in the market.
“In coming years, people will be dependent on internet and so broadband penetration in India isexpected to shoot up,” he said