Vodafone Idea's CEO, Akshaya Moondra recently talked about the challenge with deploying 5G. The challenge, he pointed towards lies with the monetisation scope. Speaking at the company's investors call post the quarterly results for Q1 FY25, Moondra said that while the 5G traffic of the peers is growing, it is growing in the context of the fact that it is free. The challenge or the real growth would be understood when the telcos start charging for 5G. There's no metering of the traffic as it is free.
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"One of the challenges we find in the 5G is that for the same usage behaviour particularly in streaming you will end up consuming more data without a difference in experience which is fine when you are not being charged for that data based on the traffic but if you're getting charged and your consumption is, let's say 3x for the same usage on 5G compared to 4G then the consumer will have to make a choice," said Moondra.
Vodafone Idea is ramping up network capacity and coverage throughout India. The telco said that post the fundraising, they have invested in network capacity and expanded it by 15%. Along with that, with the deployment of L900 band, the indoor coverage in several circles for Vodafone Idea customers is improving. From a capacity standpoint, Vodafone Idea is fine with 4G, but they are still looking to invest more and some of that will definitely come in the form of 5G investments.
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Moondra said, "We could directly invest in 5G and that definitely is a good solution, and those investments would be made. The only thing which is to be kept in mind is that there would be availability of 5G devices, and one may need to still create capacity on 4G depending on how much traffic actually shifts to 5G based on the availability of devices. So that is where it becomes a little dynamic in nature, but the point that 5G is a good solution for capacity that is very clear, and we'll follow that strategy."
