UMTS/3G in India

There has been a lot of buzz going on about the growth potential of mobile internet. Google’s Eric Schmidt recently said “Everything that Google will create going forward will be done so through a ‘Mobile First’ lens”. (siliconrepublic.com)

I think it is fair to assume that we will see a lot more mobile web usage in the next years, especially in consideration of the huge success of the iPhone with all of its online apps.
Actually, this should be good news for network operators. In Germany though, the providers are struggling with small margins and tough competition in the market (faz.net)

But let’s look at another very interesting market. India. According to a report from handelsblatt.com

India has adjourned the auctioning of their UMTS licenses for the sixth time now. There seem to be political issues which kept the government from holding the auction of the licenses on February 12th.

Even the number of licenses for sale hasn’t been answered yet. There are some voices saying there might be four though. Assuming there are four, let’s look at the companies who will be in the front row when the auction is finally taking place. The three biggest ones are Bharti Airtel, Reliance Com and Tata Indicom. Probably more than one of them will have a big stake in the mobile network once the licenses are sold and that should driver their profits. Definitely some interesting investment opportunities.