Airtel 3G : Airtel to launch 3G services by December 2010

Bharti Airtel today said it will commercially launch 3G, or third-generation, services by the end of next month.

"We are on track to launch 3G services by the end of this year," Bharti Airtel CMD Sunil Mittal said at a press conference to launch a new brand identity for the company.

Making the first video call on the beta version of 3G, Mittal said the industry hopes to see some improvement in margins as the new services will increase usage of data.

Bharti won spectrum (radio waves) for 3G services in 13 of the country's 22 telecom service areas in the auction held by the government earlier this year.

Its competitor, Tata DoCoMo, the GSM arm of Tata Teleservices has already launched 3G services in nine circles where it has spectrum.

Besides, state-owned firms BSNL and MTNL are offering 3G services in the country.

Another major private player, Vodafone, plans to launch the services in the January-March quarter of 2011.