Indian telecoms operators who recently won the 3G spectrum are estimated to place orders worth $3 billion for the telecom equipment initially as the new service is being rolled out through out the country.

The value will make a very attractive prospect for global equipment manufacturer as the deals in the developed economies are hard to come by. According to officials of the six winners of 3G spectrums in the country including Vodafone Essar, Bharti Airtel, Reliance Communications, Idea Cellular, Aircel and Tata Teleservices, the collective order for equipment in the next month will be around $3 billion.

In the first phase of roll out the operators will unveil 3G services and offer advanced services like video calling, interactive gaming and high-speed internet on phones by December this year.

According to some sources Vodafone Essar and Bharti Airtel are both getting ready to award their contracts most like to their existing vendors, Ericsson and Nokia Siemens. Some experts estimate that the Vodafone deal could be worth $500 million while that of Airtel will be around $700 million.

Idea Cellular, who contract could be worth $500 million has indicated that it is carrying out evaluation of existing vendors like Nokia-Siemens Networks, Ericsson, Huawei and ZTE for 3G equipment. Aircel has indicated that it will invest $400-500 million for the initial roll out of 3G services.

Tata Teleservices had announced earlier that Huawei will provide equipment for five circles while Nokia Siemens Networks has bagged the contract for the remaining four circles. Huawei also appears to be the frontrunner for the contract from RCOM.