RCom eyes 3G services by year-end

MUMBAI, INDIA: Reliance Communications, India's second-biggest mobile operator, expects to be in the 3G market by end of the year, a senior official said on Monday.

It expects minutes of use in the third quarter ending December to be higher than the previous sequential quarter on festive demand, Syed Safawi, the company's head of wireless business, said at an investors conference call.

On Saturday, Reliance Communications reported a 40-per cent drop in quarterly profit -- its fifth-straight quarter of profit fall — after being squeezed by a vicious call price war in the world's fastest-growing mobile market.