Vodafone Idea Limited (VIL), a prominent Indian telecom operator, will start rolling out 5G after six months from now. Akshaya Moondra, CEO of VIL, during the Q4 FY24 investors call confirmed that they will start rolling out 5G six months from now, which is November 2024. Moondra said that their focus will be urban cities for the 5G rollout, as 5G device concentration is there. Reliance Jio and Bharti Airtel have already reached several thousand Indian cities and towns with 5G.
Vodafone Idea will also roll out 5G NSA. The telco has already showcased its 5G FWA (Fixed-Wireless Access) solution called Vi AirFiber at the Indian Mobile Congress (IMC) 2023. The telco has confirmed that it has launched 5G in four circles - Maharashtra (Pune), Delhi, Punjab and Chennai. Vi has not yet met the minimum rollout obligations. The telecom operator has not yet launched 5G because of funding issues.
Read More - Vodafone Idea Struggled to Add 4G Subscribers in FY24
But now that the telco has raised Rs 20,000 crore in equity, it will look to use that money for capex that will focus on the expansion of 4G and the rollout of 5G.7
Vodafone Idea has been losing out on customers due to the absence of 5G. Airtel and Jio customers are getting unlimited 5G data, while there's no such offer for Vi customers. The telco's active user base fell from more than 200 million to 193 million in a year. While the ARPU (average revenue per user) growth was the highest in terms of CAGR in the industry, it doesn't matter much, as the ARPU stood at Rs 146. Compared to this, Jio is at Rs 181.7, while Airtel is at Rs 209.
Read More - Vodafone Idea Q4 FY24 Results: ARPU at Rs 146, Loss at Rs 7675 Crore
The industry needs a tariff hike for the telcos to be able to see a meaningful growth in their ARPU numbers.
