Vodafone India has added more than 2,000 3G sites in the third quarter of fiscal 2014. Vodafone is leading in 3G site deployments, ahead of Idea Cellular and Bharti Airtel.
The telecom operator now has 33,000 sites connected with backhaul that enabled to offer better customer services, Vodafone said on Thursday.
Airtel India recently said it added 1,563 3G sites in the third quarter to 28,179 from 26,616. The total number of sites in India rose to 137,069 in the third quarter from 135,412 in the second quarter of fiscal 2014.
Also read: Airtel data ARPU up 7% to Rs 75, voice ARPU up 1% to Rs 161 in third quarter
Idea Cellular has added 4.6 million new 3G users in 2013. Its total with 3G user base (Voice and/ Data) reached 8.7 million.
Idea Cellular recently said it has rolled out 5,630 2G cell sites and 1,873 3G cell sites in the third quarter of FY 2014 with a Capex (capital spending) of Rs 1,020 crore. During the third quarter, the total number of 2G sites has reached 101,600 and 3G sites 19,904.
Also read: Idea Q3 Capex reach Rs 1,020 crore for 5,630 2G cell sites, 1,873 3G cell sites
The expansion in 3G sites has assisted Vodafone India to grow mobile internet users by 38 percent in the quarter to 45.7 million. Vodafone India said its 3G data usage reached 700MB per month.
The telecom operator said higher customer base, improved voice pricing and strong data growth has enabled Vodafone India to clock service revenue of £937 million in the third quarter of 2013 from £956 million in the same period previous fiscal.
Mobile customers increased by 4.9 million during the quarter giving a closing customer base of 160.4 million at 31 December 2013, up 8.8 percent on last year.
Also read: Idea Cellular third quarter revenue jumps thanks to 2G, 3G data
Data usage grew 117 percent, primarily due to a 38 percent increase in mobile internet users and a 65 percent increase in usage per customer. At 31 December 2013 active data customers totalled 45.7 million, including 5.2 million 3G subscribers.
Meanwhile, Vodafone Group will buy stakes of Piramal Enterprises, Analjit Singh and Neelu Analjit Singh’s stake in its India venture for $1.6 billion. With Vodafone will have 100 percent stake in its Indian telecom business.
Baburajan K
editor@telecomlead.com