BANGALORE, INDIA: India, one of the fastest growing telecom markets in the world, is sprucing up for the third generation technology (3G), to conquer further milieu. What is in store for this growing telecom market is yet to be seen.

Goutam Awasthi, GM, marketing, Electronic Measurement Group, Agilent Technologies, India, and Naresh Kumar, GM, South Asia-Pacific, application engineering organization, Agilent Technologies India, in an interview given to CIOL, explain how India is bracing up for the future technologies. Excerpts:

CIOL: How ready is India for future technologies? 3G or 4G, which is better?

Goutam Awasthi & Naresh Kumar: With regard to future technologies, we see high levels of interests among Indian technology fraternity. Apart from the existing technologies, 3G and 2G, the next-generation technologies such as WiMAX (Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access) and LTE (Long Term Evolution) are also emerging as key focus areas.

The third generation is all set for deployment today. The Fourth generation (4G) technology, which consists of LTE and Mobile WiMAX 2.0, will take some more time to come. WiMAX 2.0 is not yet ready and the only available form of WiMAX today is WiMAX 1.0. However, LTE is emerging as a key technology to focus on and works are happening at the R&D level. There are two to three variants of LTE and the Release IX, which is the early one, will be ready in this year.

3G and 4G are essentially different technologies. These two generations differ in speed, throughput, and coverage. So, when you talk about those kind of speed and reliability, it is definite that there will be uptakers for them.

So, immediate speed requirements from end customers will be the turning point. Once you are used to 3G level, then you think of having more. It's about user expectation and what it takes to get there, which will be paving way for the next-generation technology in India.

Moreover, we don't see them as competing and both these technologies have something in it, at least from India perspective for an urban and rural customer. Time and again, it has been proved in large markets like India and China that whatever you roll out, there are people to grab it and a market develops around that technology.

CIOL: How do you see the traction of these future technologies, especially WiMAX, into rural India?

GA & NK: There is a lot of focus on rural growth, which can be ramped up with WiMAX.

Wireless technology has a bigger play in a country like India, where you can't put wires, or dig holes everywhere. The Indian government is very well aware of it and have been investing in these technologies. WiMAX is the best option for larger terrains and is today heading towards a stage of conformance and deployment.