India prepping 3G license auction
By Chris Ziegler 
posted Aug 4th 2008 4:42AM
posted Aug 4th 2008 4:42AM
The inevitable march of 3G services across the globe just took another giant step forward, with India -- undeniably one of the world's largest mobile markets, and growing by the second -- committing to an auction for 3G spectrum in the next few months. The exact date hasn't been set, but participants can expect to shell out a bare minimum of 20 billion rupees (about $477 million) for the pleasure of partaking in a nationwide license. So yeah, sorry, HTC, looks like you're going to have to eventually come up with a better excuse to launch a 3G-free superphone in that part of the world, assuming these licenses materialize into actual networks down the road.
I have a feeling this is all in preparation for the most-hyped 3g phone of the year. The I will launch sometime in September so expect an announcement for 3G spectrum near that date.
... that super phone is Samsung INNOV8 and may be Nokia N96 during the next quarter.