PUNE, INDIA: The much-awaited guidelines for the 3G policy will be out on August 1, 2008.

It is in line with the expectations that were built up yet again after United Progressive Alliance (UPA) proving its majority in Parliament recently indicating that the long due 3G spectrum allocation proposal would be on course.

In early July, the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) was considering a proposal to issue tenders for nine 3G licenses in place of an earlier proposal that could resolve the long awaited industry demand over spectrum availability.

The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) and DoT have been battling over issues including base pricing of the 3G spectrum auction and the more contentious issue of allowing foreign operators to join the telecom fray.

The 3G stage has already witnessed a lot of twists with the ongoing dissents and changing lines of opinions between three key parties, TRAI, Ministry of Communications and DoT.

Among many other issues, the government has been at loggerheads with TRAI over the entry of foreign players.

In fact, industry observers have pointed out that any more delays in moving ahead on the issue could cause staggered investments in the 2G space. So a 3G policy announcement from the top is exactly what everyone would definitely heave a sigh for.

Telecom Minister Andimuthu Raja will announce the guidelines at press conference scheduled at 12 noon on Friday in New Delhi.

He had earlier remarked, "It has been delayed for some time. I will ensure that the policy is out by June 30."

Hopefully August 1 will clear the air of all doubts, skepticism and apprehensions around the promising space of 3G. 3G technologies allow network operators to offer its subscribers a range of advanced services and also achieve better network capacity.

Services include wide-area wireless voice telephony, video calls and broadband wireless data, all in a mobile environment.