Vodafone Idea to start 5G rollout in 6 months, in talks with vendors: Akshaya Moondra

Troubled telecom major Vodafone Idea expects to start rolling out 5G six months from now and is in talks with vendors for 5G deals, chief executive officer Akshaya Moondra said, adding the telco is in the advanced stages of trial for OpenRAN and vRAN technologies.

“We will be able to effectively utilise the capex by launching 5G now. We have completed the minimum rollout obligation in four circles and have applied for the Bihar and Mumbai circles. We are In talks with tech partners for 5G. We are also in the advanced stages of trials of OrAN and VRAN,” Moondra said in the post-Q4 conference call.

“We expect to start rolling out 5G from six months from now. The market is evolving… The main focus will be on main cities or areas where there is a large concentration of devices. We will make investments as the market evolves… 5G investments will be a bit iterative in terms of timing,” Moondra said.

The telco, he said, is focusing on getting more customers on unlimited data plans for further upward improvements in APRU. “We have seen ARPU growth for 11 consecutive quarters,” he said.

Finland’s Nokia powers Vodafone Idea’s 4G in nine circles, while Swedish vendor Ericsson does so in eight circles. Huawei and ZTE tech are in place in seven and five circles. All ZTE circles are shared with other vendors.

Vodafone Idea has about 180,000 4G sites compared with 300,000 4G sites with both Reliance Jio and Airtel, as per Analysys Mason estimates.

Vodafone Idea intends to cover 40 percent of its revenue base with its 5G services in the next 24-30 months and expects to roll out 5G services in select pockets within six-nine months, having completed the 5G minimum rollout obligation in four circles.

The company’s “top-most priority” focus is to match 4G coverage with its rival to arrest subscriber churn. He highlighted that 5G was not the reason for the loss of subscribers.

Moondra said that the telco will start adding 4g capacity in a couple of months for decongestion. While for 4G coverage, the rollout will start in 3-4 months. “We will be able to complete a large part of coverage expansion to be competitive in 12-15 months,” he said.