Vodafone Idea secured midband 5G spectrum in 17 circles and millimeter-wave spectrum in 16 circles across India
Indian telco Vodafone Idea said that the launch of 5G services in the country will depend on several factors such as the evolution of use cases, customer demand and competitive dynamics, RavinderTakkar, the company’s non-executive chairman reportedly said.
“Vodafone Idea has actively participated in the [5G spectrum] auction and acquired the midband 5G spectrum in 17 priority circles and millimeter wave 5G spectrum in 16 circles. This will enable Vodafone Idea to embark on its 5G rollout journey in the country,” Takkar told analysts during the telco’s annual general meeting.
“We are in discussion with various vendors for 5G procurement. We are also in discussions with the banks for funding arrangements. And once these two things are in place, we will be taking action to deploy 5G,” said Vodafone Idea CEO Akshay Moondra.
Takker also noted that the company has recently acquired spectrum in all the frequency bands and further strengthened its 4G spectrum holdings with acquisition of additional frequencies in Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka and Punjab.
The 5G spectrum auction in India concluded on August 1 and according to the country’s Telecom Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw, local carriers purchased a total $19 billion worth of spectrum.
Reliance Jio walked away with the most spectrum, having spent $11 billion. Airtel won spectrum worth $5.4 billion, while Vodafone Idea received spectrum worth $2.4 billion. Finally, Adani purchased spectrum worth approximately $27 million, which it will use to offer private 5G network services.
According to Indian press reports, some of the cities that will initially have 5G services are Ahmedabad, Bengaluru, Chandigarh, Chennai, Delhi, Gandhinagar, Gurugram, Hyderabad, Jamnagar, Kolkata, Lucknow, Mumbai and Pune.
Bharti Airtel has recently said it expects to launch 5G services in the domestic market in October. Airtel plans to start the deployment of 5G in large cities and will gradually deploy the technology across the country.
Bharti Airtel said that it has completed its 5G rollout strategy for the top 5,000 cities and intends to achieve nationwide coverage by March 2024.
Bharti Airtel recently signed 5G network agreements with Ericsson, Nokia and Samsung to start 5G deployments.
The carrier noted its strategy to go with multiple vendors would enable it to roll out 5G services with a “superior” user experience, allowing it to pursue new use cases with enterprise and industry customers.
Meanwhile, Reliance Jio Infocomm said at its annual shareholders meeting that it will invest INR 2 trillion ($25 billion) on its 5G rollout, and plans to reach every Indian town with 5G service by the end of 2023.
According to local reports, Reliance Jio will activate 5G service first in the cities of Chennai, Delhi, Kolkata and Mumbai by the festival of Diwali, which happens this year in late October.
