The government announced that state owned PSU, MTNL will conduct trials of 3G services by the end of this month in Delhi with the commercial launch in December. In Mumbai the services will be available early next year.

MTNL’s 3G trials in Delhi will be conducted around the Connaught Place area. The company claims to have procured the core equipment for the services and is presently mobilizing the radio equipment.

While the government is yet to allocate 3G spectrum to private players through the auctioning mode, MTNL and BSNL have been allotted one block of 3G spectrum. The only condition is that the two PSUs have to match the price offered by the highest bidder.

MTNL’s 3G services plans for Mumbai and Delhi include installing 3G GSM core capacity of 750,000 lines each in the two cities.