The rollout of 5G services by the indebted telecom provider Vodafone Idea will be influenced by a number of factors, including use cases, consumer demand, and competitive dynamics even as its rivals have firmed up their plans to achieve a pan-India 5G coverage between 2023 to 2024, a senior company executive said on Monday.
“Vodafone Idea has actively participated in the [5G spectrum] auction and acquired the mid-band 5G spectrum in 17 priority circles and millimetre wave 5G spectrum in 16 circles. This will enable Vodafone Idea to embark on its 5G rollout journey in the country,” said Ravinder Takkar, non-executive chairman during its annual general meeting.
Vodafone Idea CEO Akshay Moondra, in turn, said, “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.”
“The total commitment of the spectrum acquired in the 5G auction is Rs. 188 billion with annual instalments of Rs. 16.8 billion,” Takkar said.
Vodafone Idea bid for 6228.4MHz of spectrum worth Rs 18,799 crore whereas telecom market leader Jio emerged as an aggressive bidder in India’s first sale of 5G airwaves, acquiring 24,740MHz spectrum for a whopping Rs 88,078 crore, followed by Airtel which acquired 19,800MHz spectrum for Rs 43,084 crore.
The comments from officials at Vodafone Idea come in the context of Jio and Airtel’s plans to roll out 5G networks across the nation by December 2023 and March 2024, respectively. While the former telco has chosen the standalone (SA) mode, the latter has chosen the non-standalone (NSA) mode.
Takkar said that Vodafone Idea has strengthened its Pan-India 4G footprints acquiring an additional 4G spectrum in Karnataka, Punjab, and Andhra Pradesh.
