Idea Cellular has chosen 1800 Mhz to launch 4G spectrum, and the company's managing director Himanshu Kapania says growth and adoption of 4G depends on coverage, spectrum band and affordability.
India's third-biggest mobile phone operator Idea Cellular launched fourth-generation (4G) mobile phone services across South India on Wednesday. The company hopes to cover all towns and cities in Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Kerala, Tamil Nadu and Telangana by March 2016.
While saying that the company needs to focus on expanding coverage in 4G, Kapania says the biggest challenge for telecom operators is attracting Indian customers to 4G. However, he sees 500 million users shifting to 4G in the next few years.
Bharti Airtel was the first telecom company to launch 4G services in India. It launched the services at 3G prices in 296 Indian cities and towns in mid-August.
In a bid to gain more footage, Idea will be buying Videocon Telecom's spectrum in Uttar Pradesh (West) and Gujarat circles. Kapania says, this acquisition will take Idea's 4G footprint from 10 to 12 circles.
Additionally, he does not think the launch of Reliance Jio will disrupt the market. According to him, demand for 4G services in India will be much larger than what 4-5 telecom operators can promise.
Despite this, pressure is mounting in the sector as can be witnessed by the consolidations. As recently as Tuesday, Reliance Communications announced that it was in talks with rival Aircel to create India's second-largest mobile operator. Aircel's wireless subscriber base stood at more than 83 million at June end, while that of Reliance Communications was 116 million. Meanwhile, Vodafone India, the country's second-largest telecom player, had more than 185 million subscribers during the same period.
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