While the modalities of the India venture are yet to be worked out, Thursday's announcement has paved the way for those Indian companies who are eyeing the software radio market. According to Mr Bose, Vanu Inc will enter India after about 12 months. At present, it's working on research and development for the software radio project in India. Sending out positive signals to Indian companies keen to take up Vanu Inc's offer, the company is organising a venture capitalists' clinic on Friday at the IT World exhibition venue. Among the VCs who will be present there will be Infinity, Passion Fund and PricewaterhouseCoopers. It will be an opportunity for Indian companies to discuss funding with VCs, for the software radio project. Speaking on software radio, Mr Bose said it's one device for many functions-radio, TV, Internet, remote control, cordless phone, mobile phone, satellite telephony, calculator, garage door control, etc.

He clarified: ``Software radio doesn't mean a radio on which you hear cricket commentary.'' The main purpose behind such a device is to achieve all-round flexibility, that is anytime anywhere connectivity to several devices, and pay one bill for everything. Since communication is the core of software radio, this device is important for the IT sector. Although it's a high-cost area right now, Mr Bose said, the solution lay in making it economical. An economic model can be achieved by putting in place an upgradable infrastructure based on high-volume commodity components such as processor, memory and networks. Therefore, the upgrades in such a system are in software and not in hardware, he explained, making it a cheaper proposition. In India , he said, the spectrum market should turn more dynamic, thereby making it a commodity. In such a scenario, he said, each provider could bid for spectrum, when spectrum pricing would vary according to demand.

According to Mr Bose, if spectrum is not static based on a one-time fee, it can be a renewable source of revenue for the government as well.