It seems that there would be an inflow of service providers in FSP and CMSP, as most of them would be starting their services by the end of 2001 or in the beginning of 2002. In the FSP arena, there will be a minimum of four service providers who will get a license to operate in their respective circles, as presently there is a limitation on the spectrum capacity for WLL.

MTNL, the third operator, has already launched its services in Delhi, and services in Mumbai would follow soon. BSNL, the incumbent operator has given a head start to the project by launching operations in Kolkata and Patna on a small scale and is planning to start services in Haldia, Hyderabad and Chennai. A large rollout of cellular services in all the circles is scheduled between September and December 2001, according to Dr Devendra PS Seth, CMD, BSNL. The total tender value is around four million lines and is to be completed in two phases.

"There is going to be a sufficient market for operators, but you cannot have six operators in one market place at the same time," said Pramod Saxena of Motorola.