Apart from investing Rs 500 crore for upgrading its network in Mumbai, Vodafone India is also planning to launch 4G services in the city by December 2015, having successfully started the testing process earlier this year. As it stands currently, the brand is the leading mobile service provider in Mumbai.
Mumbai contributes to over 30 percent of Vodafone India’s data revenues, making it an important market for the brand. According to a statement by the company, it’s launched over 1000 new sites and sunk in nearly 500 crores into the metro in the past 6 months. The operator has joined hands with leading international infrastructure service suppliers for the 4G rollout.
Vodafone initially began LTE trials for India in select circles in July this year. It supplies the high-speed network in 18 countries, with over 24 million customers across the globe. The company thinks its previous experience in the area will inform the quality of service it provides in Mumbai.
The release further mentioned Vodafone was investing heavily in high-capacity fiber or backhaul to increase data connectivity. Ishmeet Singh, the brand’s Mumbai business head, stated that the 4G network in the city would be provided through the 1800MHz band. The operator is also planning to kickstart the service in Kerala by December this year.
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Trivandrum, Kochi and Kozhikode will be the part of the initial roll-out in the state, which will commence in a phased system across the circle. It currently has over 5300 sites in the area, and has invested nearly 350 crores in its efforts towards network upgrades in the ongoing fiscal.
Vodafone is presently the second largest telecom company in India. It will face-off against Reliance Jio come December, as the operator is also debuting its 4G services around the same time. Airtel has the advantage for now as it’s already started the commercial pan-India launch of the network in 296 towns.