Vodafone India will begin rolling out 4G services in Kolkata by December this year, starting with the central business district before moving on to other parts of the circle in a phased approach. The company had previously announced it would offer the LTE band in Mumbai, Delhi and Kerala at around the same time.
Kolkata is one of the leading data markets for Vodafone, contributing to roughly 25% of its internet revenues and growing at a rate of 50% year-on-year. In a statement, the brand claimed it had invested about Rs 96 crore to modernize and update the existing 2G and 3G network in the city. The telecom operator has apparently added over 250 mobile towers over the course of 6 months.
UK-based Vodafone is following a similar approach in other places as well. It’s sunk in Rs 350 crores into the Delhi/NCR region and set up 550 sites. The provider recently tried to reassure people it was doing all it could to improve the call drop problem in the area. It promised the situation would improve within 4 months for the 98 lakh consumers of its network in the metro.
Vodafone Business Head (Kolkata and West Bengal) Anand Sahai asserted the company’s previous experience in providing 4G services on a global scale will help it provide a better class of network in the circle. The player currently offers the high-speed network to 24 million customers across 18 countries. It has further partnered with top international infrastructure suppliers for its India LTE rollout.
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Vodafone will be in a hotly-contested fight with Airtel and Reliance Jio. The former has a first-comer’s advantage in Kolkata, having already launched its 4G network in the city months ago. The latter is set to begin its pan-India services in December as well.