India is to delay its 3G rollout until the government finalises its policy for services based on the technology, according to reports.

The Hindu Business Line in Delhi reported that India’s Department of Telecommunications (DOT) has asked the privately-owned wireless proposed data services based on EVDO to delay delivery of 3G systems until the policies are complete.

The paper quotes Daryl Green, CEO of Tatas saying his organisation is ready to offer 3G services but is waiting for permission.

“We have been told verbally to put off our lunch of EVDO services till later this year,” Green said. “If we get the permission we can start services tomorrow. We can offer 3G services using the existing spectrum but the DoT feels 800 MHz is a 2G radio frequency and therefore we should wait till the 3G spectrum is released.”

The policy for 3G in India is now expected to be finalised by year-end.

The pace of India’s mobile phone market growth is accelerating and the country is on track to surpass Russia and the U.S. in total subscribers. That is one of the conclusions of the updated 86-page report, India’s Wireless Market: Model for the Next Phase of Global Wireless Expansion, released today by Datacomm Research Company.

“The number of mobile phone subscribers added each month in India has more than tripled over the past year,” said Chetan Sharma ( inset above ), President of Chetan Sharma Consulting and the report’s author. “India passed Japan in total subscribers last month. Within the next few weeks, India will break through the 100 million subscriber barrier,” he added.

The updated version of India’s Wireless Market: Model for the Next Phase of Global Wireless Expansion provides a comprehensive, accurate, up-to-date, and actionable report on India’s wireless market. The study is based on in-depth interviews with executives at operators, application developers, manufacturers, and other players. The report describes India’s market, value chain, competition, and regulation and identifies the best and worst money-making opportunities.

Additional conclusions found in the updated version of India’s Wireless Market: Model for the Next Phase of Global Wireless Expansion:

1. India’s wireless boom is largely the result of government decisions favoring competition. Both developing and developed countries can learn from India’s regulatory, network infrastructure, handset, and value-added service innovations.

2. India will spend several $billion on wireless infrastructure to accommodate subscriber growth, improve rural coverage, and add advanced services. Significant opportunities exist for leveraging the 450 and 800 MHz bands.

3. India’s consumers require low-cost handsets. Handsets are now available for as little as $40. However, many Indian consumers will spend a little more for enhancements such as the ability to download and play music and games.

4. Thanks to low per-minute charges (under $0.03), most Indian consumers pay less than US$10 per month for voice service. Wireless data yields higher margins for operators, providing incentives for affordable text, music and video services.

Seven Asian operators today announced the formation of an alliance to enhance competitiveness in the international roaming market and deliver corporate services across the Asia-Pacific region.

The Asia Pacific Mobile Alliance boasts a combined customer base of about 100 million subscribers over eight countries and regions, but plans to expand its members over time.

The founding members are: Far EasTone (Taiwan), Hutchison Essar (India), Hutchison Telecommunications Limited (Hong Kong and Macau), KTF (South Korea), NTT DoCoMo (Japan), PT Indosat (Indonesia) and StarHub (Singapore).

The alliance will promote voice, video and data roaming via members’ GSM/GPRS/WCDMA networks, with an intention to launch roaming via HSDPA once the market is ready. These initiatives are targeted for launch in the latter half of 2006.

The alliance also aims to create a Virtual Home Environment amongst customers of member operators, so that they are able to experience seamless, convenient mobile-related services when they roam. Such services include caller ID and short codes to allow quick and easy connection to their home country operator’s voice mail and customer support.

The formation of the Asia Pacific Mobile Alliance marks the arrival of the region’s second such partnership. Last year the Bridge Mobile Alliance launched its first services – seamless GPRS and MMS roaming and a common prepaid roaming top up service.

The Bridge Alliance’s founding operator members are Airtel in India, CSL in Hong Kong, Globe Telecom in the Philippines, Maxis in Malaysia, SingTel Mobile in Singapore, SingTel Optus in Australia, Taiwan Mobile in Taiwan and Telkomsel in Indonesia. But the organisation has now opened its doors to the vendor community, with the inclusion of Chinese vendor ZTE, Sweden’s Ericsson and US manufacturer Motorola.