Vodafone Idea has announced its $3.6 billion deal with Nokia, Ericsson and Samsung for supply of network equipment over a period of three years.
Vodafone mobile subscriber growth 2024
Source: TRAI
Prepared by TelecomLead.comVodafone Idea, the third largest telecom operator in India, did not reveal the specific details of the mobile network deal with Nokia, Ericsson and Samsung. Incidentally, Vodafone Idea did not select China-based Huawei and ZTE. Huawei is the largest telecom network supplier in the world.
Vodafone Idea’s network dea is part of three-year capex plan of $6.6 billion. Vodafone Idea will expand the 4G population coverage from 1.03 billion to 1.2 billion, and launch 5G in key markets and enhance capacity to meet data growth.
Vodafone Idea has continued with its existing partners Nokia and Ericsson and added Samsung as a new partner.
Vodafone Idea is funding the Capex out of the equity raise. Vodafone Idea is in talks with its lenders to tie up Rs 250 billion of funded and Rs 100 billion of non-fund-based facilities. Lenders will offer funding to Vodafone Idea based on a techno economic evaluation of the company’s long-term projections conducted by a third party, in addition to their own analysis.
The contracts with Nokia, Ericsson and Samsung will allow Vodafone Idea to quickly enhance customer experience.
Vodafone Idea’s mobile subscriber base has reached 215.882 million in July 2024 as compared with 223.048 million at the end of December 2023, TRAI data shows.
The number of Vodafone Idea’s mobile Internet customers, which will drive data ARPU, has decreased to 126.72 in July 2024 from 127.28 million in December 2023. Vodafone Idea did not launch 5G in India due to financial constraints.
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Engineering team at Vodafone Idea believe that sourcing telecom equipment from Nokia, Ericsson and Samsung will lead to efficiency gains in energy and thus lower operating costs. The top priority for the company is to expand the 4G coverage to 1.2 billion Indians.
Vodafone Idea has raised Rs 240 billion recently. Vodafone Idea purchased spectrum worth Rs 35 billion in June 2024 auction.
Vodafone Idea has started the deployment of more spectrum on existing sites and the roll out of some new sites. This is resulting in ~15 percent boost in capacity and an increase in population coverage by 16 million by end September, 2024.
“We are already witnessing an improvement in customer experience in select geographies where these rollouts have been completed,” Akshaya Moondra, CEO, Vodafone Idea, said.
“We have kickstarted the investment cycle. We are on our journey of VIL 2.0. VIL will stage a smart turnaround to effectively participate in the industry growth opportunities,” Akshaya Moondra said.
Baburajan Kizhakedath
