NEW DELHI, INDIA: While 3G/Wimax might have been delayed for the nth time the interest its generating from all parts of the world for India is something else.

Now it seems that even Google is looking at broadband wireless access (BWA) in the country and may participate in the upcoming 3G/WiMAX auction with an Indian partner.

In India, Google's interest is in the WiMAX spectrum at 2.3GHz rather than the 3G sale, according to reports in the country's Business Standard newspaper. While the 3G frequencies are likely to be snapped up by existing Indian or international operators to support an expansion of conventional businesses and services, WiMAX is expected to be highly disruptive in India, attracting new carriers and revenue models, and supporting expansion of broadband access in a desperately underserved nation.

According to another report, Intel, the world's largest chipmaker, is understood to be in talks with leading Indian telecom companies like Tata Communications (formerly VSNL), Bharti Airtel and Reliance Communications that could bid for broadband wireless access (BWA) spectrum to be auctioned by the government in January 2010.

Talks are currently centred on Intel offering Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access or WiMAX (which provides for wireless transmission of data and up to 75 Mb/sec speed) technology — one of the popular BWA technologies — to the operator, and the possibility of taking a minority stake through its venture capital arm, Intel Capital.