The eagerly awaited 3G Radio Airwaves Spectrum Auction kicked off on friday. India is the world’s fastest-growing wireless market and 3G is still not here. This auction will help telecom firms offer premium third-generation (3G) services in India. Strong competitors are Bharti Airtel, Reliance Communications and the Indian unit of Vodafone. An DoT official has confirmed the scheduled start of 3G auction and it would take about a week to for the auctions to be completed. There are a total 71 3G slots on offer in India’s 22 telecoms zones in the auction, followed by a separate auction of broadband spectrum. Ths auction is the biggest of its kind in recent times.

A total of 10 rounds of bidding had been completed by Saturday, India’s Department of Telecommunications said on its website, without disclosing which company had bid how much. On the first day, bids were at about a 12 percent premium to the base price of 35 billion rupees for all-India spectrum. There is no bidding on Sunday. The auction resumes on Monday. ($1=44.3 rupees)

Bharti Airtel, has officially launched the iPhone 3GS in India today.

The iPhone 3GS is now available in over 80 countries around the world. iPhone 3GS is the fastest, most powerful iPhone yet, packed with new features including improved speed and performance – up to twice as fast as iPhone 3G – with longer battery life, a 3 megapixel autofocus camera, easy to use video recording and hands free voice control. The App Store provides access to more than 150,000 applications from games to social networking to financial planning and health management, generating more than 3 billion downloads to date.

“We are delighted with the opportunity to bring the eagerly-awaited iPhone 3GS to India. Combining the strength of the Airtel brand and network with the great user interface of iPhone 3GS, we are happy to bring to our customers an experience that will take mobile communications to a whole new level,” said Atul Bindal, President-Mobile Services, Bharti Airtel.

The iPhone 3GS would be available for Rs. 35,500 for the 16GB model and Rs. 41,500 for the 32GB model. Additionally, iPhone 3G continues to be available in the 8GB version for Rs. 29,500.

Click here to visit the official Airtel Website.

We had earlier told about the Mobile Tower Sealing issue, now High Court has givem a major relief to cell phone users and service providers, the Lucknow Bench of the Allahabad High Court has directed NOIDA authority to open the seal of over 100 mobile towers immediately.

A division bench comprising Justice Pradeep Kant and Justice Ritu Raj Awasthi directed completion of formalities pertaining to setting up of towers by the mobile companies within two months.

In its order yesterday on a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) petition filed by Indus Towers Company, whose services are used by cellular service providers in the satellite town on the outskirts of Delhi, the court asked the petitioner to approach the authority with necessary documents for fulfilling the formalities for installing the mobile towers.