Even as it scouts for funds, Vodafone Idea has started working towards launching its 5G services. The telecom operator has till now deployed about 36 tower sites of 5G in Delhi and Pune, sources in the department of telecommunications (DoT) said.
The 5G base transceiver stations (BTSs) deployed by Vodafone Idea are initially for testing and may subsequently be rolled out for commercial services, though at a much smaller scale than its peers like Jio and Airtel, sources said.
The deployment of sites is also crucial for Vodafone Idea to meet the government’s minimum rollout obligation of 5G services.
According to data from DoT, Jio and Airtel have so far deployed over 252,000 5G BTS across 5,600 towns in 706 districts.
“The company has made select 5G clusters in Delhi and Pune where it had partnered with various original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) to test the compatibility of available 5G handsets. It has completed device testing of all major OEMs on its 5G network,” Vodafone Idea had said in its annual report for FY23.
“We will continue to make investments for expanding 4G coverage and capacity, especially in its 17 priority circles and introduce 5G services once funding is in place,” said Ravinder Takkar, chairman of Vodafone Idea.
The company further said it is in discussion with various network vendors for finalisation of the 5G rollout plan.
“MRO (minimum rollout obligation) is more a compliance requirement and we will work on that, but we are looking for a wider coverage,” said Akshaya Moondra, chief executive officer of Vodafone Idea. “The plans that we have shared with the banks and investors include 5G investments and good amount of 5G coverage,” Moondra added.
In the 5G spectrum auction last year, Vodafone Idea acquired 6,237 MHz spectrum across 2100 MHz, 2500 MHz, 3300 MHz, and 26 GHz bands at an aggregate value of `18,786 crore.
Deployment of 5G services is crucial for the company given that it has been losing subscribers continuously for over two years now owing to weak network spends, according to analysts. As of April end, the company’s total mobile subscribers were at 234 million.
About 8% of the devices on Vodafone Idea’s network are 5G devices.
“In terms of customer until now has there been any impact in terms of churn? We have not seen any change in the trends and in fact this quarter (January-March) you would have seen a reduction in our overall churn. So, definitely this is the latest quarter where large investments have been made by competition in 5G. So, it has not impacted our churn so definitely at this point of time it is not impacting our churn levels,” Moondra said during the earnings call with analysts post January-March quarter results.