Vodafone Idea to Focus on 4G Expansion as India is Not 5G Ready: Balesh Sharma

Vodafone Idea CEO, Balesh Sharma in a talk with reporters on Thursday informed that the company intends to retain its pole position in the industry and it will do so by simplified tariff plans, faster integration and bettering its balance sheet. Sharma also hinted that the current unsustainable pricing in the industry would correct itself as the effect of consolidation in the market is seen in the coming months. The executive also shared the future plans of Vodafone Idea saying that the telco will now focus on cutting down costs while seeking profitable and critical areas for investment. He also hinted that the telco would bring down the number of pricing plans and will bring its subscribers under a loop of minimum recharges and constant billing cycles to give a boost to average revenue per user (ARPU).

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Vodafone Idea to Focus on 4G Expansion Rather Than 5G Rollout

The Vodafone Idea CEO also added that at this “juncture” the company’s focus is on 4G expansion as right now India is not 5G ready. Currently, Vodafone Idea boasts of 422 million subscribers in India across all circles. The executive also revealed that Vodafone Idea also plans to implement Big Data and analytics tools to improve its ARPU, a key industry metric which has taken a nose-dive ever since the Mukesh Ambani led telco, Reliance Jio made its foray into the Indian telecom sector. Talking about the ARPU, Balesh Sharma said, “Industry ARPU has gone down from the already low level of $2.6 about two years ago to $1.4. This is unsustainable.” Sharma expressed his concern over the industry financials, however, also added that owing to consolidation the prices should “repair materially”.