Vodafone Idea CTO says have edge over rivals, to trial 5G SA by mid of year

Vodafone Idea (VIL) said that it maintains advantage over rival operators in 5G deployment, with the latest AI-based self-organising network, and is set to roll out commercial 5G services across 17 operating circles including in Chandigarh, Bangalore and Patna, replacing legacy Chinese gear.

“In two years, things have changed. We are using AI-based self-organising network (SON), which is actually optimising the resources of the network for the right use and right set of customers. So, we have that benefit of having better SON now,” Jagbir Singh, chief technology officer (CTO), Vodafone Idea told ETTelecom, adding that it would keep deploying 5G network in newer cities.

On Wednesday, the telco launched commercial 5G services in Mumbai while it is set to unveil next generation wireless services in Bangalore, Chandigarh, Patna and Mysore by the end of April.

The Aditya Birla group and the UK-based Vodafone Plc joint venture (JV) has unveiled an introductory offer to its customers in Mumbai for Rs 299, and above, with unlimited 5G access.

Singh said that telco’s 5G backed by latest vendor technology, would be able to offer some tangible benefits to subscribers.

“Now, we have better and power-efficient equipment, with lower weight. Moreover, whatever the new features would have come, including equipment performance, they could benefit end consumers.”

Both rivals – Reliance Jio and Bharti Airtel launched next generation services in late 2022. However, Vi has been a late entrant, following financial hiccups, but remained focussed on its 4G strategy during the non-5G period.

Vi is banking on self-organising network (SON) technology, backed by artificial intelligence (AI), as a part of multiple vendor network deal it awarded recently.

In September 2024, it placed equipment order worth Rs 30,000 crores with Swedish Ericsson, Finnish Nokia and Korean Samsung, as a part of its three-year capex plan.

The deal marks a defining step for stressed Vodafone Idea towards the rollout of next generation services.

The telco has a Rs 55,000-crore strong capex plan for the next three years, split evenly between 4G and 5G network.

Singh said that 17 circles would be telco’s priority, and added that 4G would continue to be a network backbone in the country for at least next 8-10 years.

The telecom carrier is currently acquiring sites in states such as Maharashtra, Gujarat and Kerala, as a part of next phase of 5G launch.

Vi said that it is replacing Chinese gear from Chandigarh, Bangalore and Patna, and is redeploying in rural areas as it has not reached end of life.

“As we are planning to launch 5G in Chandigarh, Bangalore and Patna that are Chinese circles, having 4G and 2G equipment, we are trying to balance the vendor ecosystem and brought in Samsung also. So, in these three circles, the orders have been given to Samsung.”

The top executive further said that the company is using 5G NSA (non-stand alone) architecture, and allows subscribers to seamlessly migrate from 5G to 4G, and back to 5G network.

Vi is also expected to trial 5G standalone (SA) by the mid of this year, as a part of broad strategy in consonance with market dynamics.

“The scientific analysis is basically based on device penetration across areas, clusters, and pockets, in addition to residential and commercial analysis,” he said, adding that the telco has mapped device movement, traffic patterns and applications, to deploy 5G network using optimum efficiency.

Vodafone Idea is also testing fixed wireless access (FWA) service, to offer high speed mobile broadband experience.

“We are having a significant market share in the enterprise sector,” the executive added.

The telco, as a part of private 5G strategy, is also in talks with multiple large-sized enterprises in automobile, mining and logistics sectors.

“Overall, given the continuous enhancement in 4G and now strengthening of our network with 5G, our subscriber will definitely benefit and this would also address the customer churn.”

It has planned 75,000 5G sites over three years across 17 circles, and added more than 1 lakh sites sites in less than a year, including 55,000 sites on the 900 MHz spectrum band.