According to Akshaya Moondra, chief financial officer, Vodafone Idea Limited (Vi), the telco may begin offering 5G services after 7-8 months of securing funding.
Speaking during the company’s recent earnings call, Moondra stated that by the time Vi launches 5G services, it will have clarity on how to monetise the technology, which is yet to be cracked by other telecom operators. He added that the company will have the benefit of seeing how the 5G adoption is happening. He noted that significant capital expenditure has been incurred on 5G. However, the challenge is that there is no monetisation happening. In fact, the way 5G is priced, it is leading to the discounting of 4G as well.
Further, Moondra stated that Vi is in discussions with various technology partners for the finalisation of its 5G rollout and is working with partners to develop India-relevant 5G use cases and build device ecosystems. The company is also in the advanced stages of 5G trials of embracing new technologies such as virtualised radio access network (vRAN) and open RAN. He added that the telco plans to fully switch off its 3G network in the fiscal year 2025 and refarm its airwaves in the 2100 MHz band for 4G, which would boost overall network capacity. He added that
While Moondra did not speak about further tariff hikes, he said that the company has reduced the validity of the entry-level Rs 99 plan to 15 days, down from 30 days. He informed that this has now been extended to 16 circles and it may be implemented in the other six circles going forward.
