The strategy of Vodafone was to enhance its mobile Internet business in India. Vodafone India had 69.7 million mobile data users, of which 32.3 million use 3G / 4G at 30 June 2016.
For comparison, Bharti Airtel acquired spectrum for Rs 14,244 crore, Jio for Rs 13,672 crore and Idea Cellular for Rs 12,798 crore.
Vodafone India, which did not have a strong 4G strategy in place, aims to expand mobile Internet business using 4G technology at a time when Reliance Jio and Bharti Airtel are expanding their nation-wide presence with 4G services.
The new spectrum significantly enhances the coverage, capacity and speed of Vodafone India’s 4G data services in its key circles, complementing existing 2G and 3G voice and data capabilities.
Vodafone India acquired 2 x 82.6 MHz FDD and 200 MHz TDD spectrum in the spectrum auction, providing high capacity, multi-band 4G capability operating across the 1800, 2100 and 2500 MHz bands.
Vodafone India now has 17 circles with 4G capability, covering 91 percent of the company’s total revenues and 94 percent of mobile data revenues.
Vodafone, the second largest telecom network operator in India, said its investment totals INR 202.8 billion (€2.74 billion) of which INR 101.4 billion (€1.36 billion) is payable up-front. The spectrum acquired has a 20-year term.
Vodafone India, a subsidiary of Vodafone Group plc of UK, has the largest voice and data traffic usage within the Vodafone Group and has more than 200 million customers.
Baburajan K
editor@telecomlead.com