Telecom giant, Vodafone has recently announced their intention to introduce 4G services in 4 new circles, under its phase 2 of network expansion. It already had launched 4G services in 5 circles, namely Mumbai, Delhi, Kolkata, Kerala and Karnataka, and will be extending the list to Gujarat, Haryana, UP east and West Bengal circles. Currently, Vodafone is the second largest telecom company in India depending on its subscriber base and the largest 4G operator worldwide.
The total 9 circles will consist 70% of Vodafone’s total data in the country. With its expansion to four new circles, the telecom operator’s has set a strong feet in the 4 G market, which will increase manifold once the service extends to 1000 more town by the end of the year. To reach the target set, the company is setting up new cell sites in the speed of 5 sites per hour in Q4, and laying 40 fibres a day, approximately. Also, the old sites are being replaced with single RAN sites to support 3G, 4G and 5G with simple software upgradation in Delhi and Mumbai, by deploying self optimizing network (SON) technology. The CEO and MD of Vodafone India, Mr Sunil Sood says “4G services in the phase 2 circles will also be launched using its existing 1800 MHz spectrum that we hold.” However, he refrained from commenting anything on the deployment of narrow band LTE in some of the circles, which hold less than 5MHz of liberalized spectrum.
Currently, Vodafone holds liberalized spectrum in the circles of Gujarat (7.7MHz), Haryana (4.9MHz), UP East (6.45) and 1.8 MHz un-liberalized spectrum in West Bengal.
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