This is race against time for telecom operators in India for launch of 4G services – Airtel has already taken the lead, and others are on their way. Every telecom operator have made announcements. State Owned BSNL will launch their 4G services by March 2016, Aircel has promised us the same by December 2015, and so has the biggie – Reliance Jio Infocomm.
Now Vodafone and Tikona have also made their 4G launch announcements.
Vodafone to Commence 4G services in Mumbai by December 2015
While we expected it to happen, the official announcement has just come in. Vodafone will launch their 4G services in Mumbai by December 2015. In an official Press Release sent to us, Vodafone has said that they have invested more than Rs. 500 crore to modernize and upgrade their existing network. They have also rolled out over 1000 4G sites in Mumbai over past 6 months.
Vodafone has been taking number of steps, especially in Mumbai, to avoid erosion of their subscribers to Airtel due to their first mover advantage in 4G arena. Vodafone nearly halved their data prices, and also announced attractive voice calling plans for pre-paid customers to retain their customers till they launched their 4G services.
For Vodafone, Mumbai is their most lucrative data market where around 30% of revenues come from data. The ARPU of a Mumbai user is far higher in any other part of the country.
Ishmeet Singh, Business Head–Mumbai, Vodafone India, said, “We are the leading service provider in Mumbai and our customers have a lot to look forward to. We are excited to launch our new 4G services in the superior 1800 MHz band for our customers in Mumbai. Having launched 4G services in several countries, Vodafone has the requisite expertise and experience to ensure that its 4G service in Mumbai will be best in class. We will continue to pursue our customer centric strategy in an endeavor to meet their evolving needs for better and smarter connectivity for both voice and data.”
Tikona to roll out 4G services in 30 Cities in 2016
Tikona Digital Networks, one of the leading internet service providers in India has announced that they will be launching 4G-LTE based broadband services in 30 cities across five telecom circles in the first half of 2016.
Tikona’s CMO Heramb Ranade told Economic Times in an interview, “We have launched a disruptive 10 Mbps product which offers five to 10 times higher speeds than the prevailing DSL /3G based products.” He added, “We will offer GBs at a price that is a fifth of current 3G prices so as to provide a satisfying user experience to multi-user, multi-device homes. We will maintain the pricing advantage on an ongoing basis”
Like BSNL, Tikona is also playing the tariff card, where they will be offering 4G internet at competitive rates to attract customers on their network.
In 2010 auctions, Tikona has won 2o MHz of 4G spectrum in five telecom circles of Gujarat, Himachal Pradesh, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh (East) and Uttar Pradesh (West).
