According to our survey-which was done on the phone-almost an equal number of CIOs felt that either 3G or WiMax would be more beneficial for their organization according to their individual needs for voice or data. While about 2% mentioned that they would use both technologies in different areas of the organization, at least 5% said that they would prefer to wait till rollouts are complete to analyze which technology would suit their enterprise better. However, what emerged strongly from the study was that at least 10% of those surveyed still do not have a clear idea about the offerings of 3G or BWA, which makes them hesitant in staking claim to either of the two technologies due to the prohibitive cost of trial and error.

According to Ajay Meher, VP, IT, Sony TV, "3G helps in enabling a mobile platform where we can directly publish our content which was not possible before." Vijay Mahajan, head, infrastructure, Mahindra & Mahindra agrees with him and says that WiMax will not be available on the mobile platform so soon. However, seeing that there are few other platforms other than mobile where 3G can be effectively used, SS Dole, head, IT, INCAT, Tata Motors remarks, "We have been using WiMax technology and it is working well for us. 3G is still emerging and there are very few data platforms like Tata Photon Plus on which 3G will be available. Thus, from a deployment point of view, I feel WiMax scores over 3G as it is a more reliable, stable, mature and future technology."

High cost of WiMax would lead to enterprises preferring 3G as it has been used abroad for enterprise mobility for a long time, but problems of inconsistent network due to not even a single operator having a pan-India 3G license and the resultant issues with respect to roaming agreements will be handicaps in implementing a 3G network in an organization. According to P Chakrapani, CIO, Indus Power, "We would go with 3G as it is fabric ready and is mature enough for the Indian market at present. Additionally, the quick response time and service offerings are better. WiMax, on the other hand, requires device support as well as usage, protocol and application support apart from just technology. 3G is also more user-friendly."

Explaining about the security apprehensions of rolling out an unknown technology, Manikkam VS, head, IT, Henkel says, "3G hasn't come in yet and we need to understand how it works. We have not yet tested any applications on the 3G platform and are not sure how long it will take to come into the market. However, lots of people are using wireless; and since it is a standard and known package, we would prefer that as we have lots of critical applications and business operations spread across 125 locations on the same network. So, it is challenging to get into something new as security is a major concern. Thus, since WiMax has been tried and tested, we would rather go in for that."

A few respondents also remarked that they would rather wait for LTE. Ajay Masur, CIO, Hirco says, "We would actually prefer to wait for LTE as it is a far superior technology in terms of bandwidth. People will not really invest in WiMax as the 3G speed is good enough for now. However, WiMax will be like fibre in the air which will have good offerings for enterprises as well as customers. Reliance has already started work on this front, so it will be a matter of waiting for just eight to nine months."

VAS, managed services and mobile advertising through mobile apps will determine the revenues of 3G; including gaming, education, health, e-governance and m-commerce. Telecom-Internet convergence will control the smart grid, disaster management apps, RFID and sensor based technology, web 2.0, Internet data center-data farming will be impacted due to 3G and BWA. However, there will be no single killer app in 3G. The challenge for operators will be to cater to different needs for tier-1, tier-2 and tier-3 cities. Like for example, in tier-2 and tier-3 cities, mobile TV and telephony is more popular than gaming and video streaming which will witness a boost with 3G in tier-1 cities and ncrease in the smartphone usage with dual and triple SIM handsets, telepresence mushrooming. WiMax in BPOs and data centers will see a boost with the coming in of these two technologies.

Next generation services will be a costly affair for enterprises. Group chairman of Bharti Airtel, Sunil Mittal was recently quoted as saying, "The amount for spectrum that has been charged is close to Rs 3,500 crore in Delhi and Mumbai. Just to recover the license fees and input cost, it works out to be Rs 700-900 per month. My view is that pricing would be different for different circles, and circles which have very high bidding in the 3G auctions will be priced for subscribers accordingly."