Highlights
- While launching Airtel's 4G services, Kapil Sibal said that 3G services have not been as popular as 2G.
Launching Airtel's 4G services in Kolkata Tuesday, Telecom Minister Kapil Sibal admitted that 3G services have not been as popular as 2G due to lack of liquidity in the market to invest in the infrastructure and the devices required.
"We will give the environment to the industry to manufacture low cost quality smart phones. But it is the industry which has to deliver. This is the biggest challenge for the industry," he told reporters.
"3G has not delivered because they paid such huge prices for the spectrum and there is no liquidity in the market for them to invest in the infrastructure and the devices to deliver 3G, for which 2G was successful and 3G was not successful."
He hoped that the industry would keep this in mind and "ensure that people of this country have low cost devices".
Sibal was speaking at the launch of broadband wireless access (BWA) services based on 4G technology here.
Telecom major Bharti Airtel Tuesday became the first telecom operator to launch broadband wireless access (BWA) services based on 4G technology in the country.