Vodafone to roll out 4G in Delhi, Mumbai, Bengaluru in a month

After this, company may expand 4G services to other circles based on its ability to acquire necessary spectrum

Following the roll-out of its 4G services in Kerala, Karnataka (excluding Bengaluru) and Kolkata, Vodafone India will further extend this service to Delhi, Mumbai and Bengaluru in a month's time.

These five locations currently contribute 50 per cent of the company's data revenue which stood at Rs. 6,079 crore during April-December.

Revneues from data contributed nearly 18.5 per cent to the telecom major's service revenue of Rs 32,905 crore in the same period.

"We'll roll out the 4G service in these circles in a month's time and the initial response from Kerala and Karnataka has been encouraging", the company's chief operating officer, Naveen Chopra said during the service's launch in Kolkata circle.

After this roll-out, the company may expand its 4G services to other circles based on its ability to acquire the necessary spectrum.

In the February 2014 spectrum auctions, Vodafone had acquired additional 4G spectrum in all of these circles.

He said the service, which is running on the 1,800 MHz band in the country's eastern metropolis, will initially be rolled out in some of the prominent business and residential corridors of the city and later will be expanded to cover the entire area in a "phased manner".

It has claimed to offer speeds in the 10-30 mbps range on 4G in the Kolkata circle once network optimization is completed.

Having a 31.6 per cent market share in the Kolkata circle with 2,944 network sites, the company, has invested over Rs. 900 crore in the state during the first three quarters of the current fiscal year.

"This investment in the state has been to ramp up our network and set-up new sites", he said.

Vodafone has a total subscriber base of 21,956,356 in Kolkata and the West Bengal circles of which about 29 per cent are data users.

Additionally, it has set-up 250 3G-enabled towers in Kolkata and another 783 such sites in the rest of West Bengal circles since April-December.

Asked if Vodafone is planning to introduce voice-calls on the 4G network, Chopra said the eco-system for the same first needs to be put into place post which this facility can be introduced.

ENDS