Aircel Joins India's 3G Gang

1:40 PM -- Aircel Ltd., which has a 2G mobile subscriber base of just over 50 million, has launched its first 3G services in the Southern Indian city of Chennai.

It becomes the fourth privately owned Indian operator to launch 3G services. (See Airtel Launches 3G in India, and .)

Aircel hopes to launch its 3G services in 11 "circles" (service areas, of which India has 22) in the next few weeks. Aircel had procured 3G spectrum in 13 circles in the auctions conducted last year. The company also recently launched 50,000 Wi-Fi hot spots across the country. (See and Aircel Launches 50K Wi-Fi Zones.)

There was some delay in the launch, though. The company had said it would make its first 3G services available before the start of the cricket World Cup (which began Feb. 19), but finally launched on Feb. 22.

Aircel selected Ericsson AB, ZTE Corp. and Nokia Siemens Networks for its 3G network rollout. (See .)

Gagandeep Kaur, India Editor, Light Reading