Vodafone launches 4G in Mumbai on 1,800 MHz

Vodafone, country’s second largest telecom operator, launched its fourth generation broadband services in Mumbai. The service was unveiled by chief minister Devendra Phadnavis, a Vodafone customer himself. The company launches its services months after Bharti Airtel launched its 4G services across 300 towns in India.

At the launch, Chief Minister Phadnavis said mobile was a key aspect of its JAM trinity (Jandhan, Aadhaar, Mobile) which was transforming governance. He said that he would have liked if Vodafone had launched 4G in Mumbai first as it was the commercial capital of the country.

Mumbai is a critical market for all telecom players, as it has the highest level of smartphone penetration (60%) and data accounts for 30% of Vodafone’s revenues in the Mumbai circle against 20% for the rest of the country.

Clearly, the company did not want to go wrong in this market, which is why it has launched it only after putting in place all pieces together which would ensure a superior customer experience.

Vodafone’s launched its 4G services in Mumbai after it has launched its services in Kerala, Karnataka and Delhi. The reason for this, as cited by Vodafone India’s CEO Sunil Sood, was to learn from the experience in other markets as Mumbai’s customer is a discerning one.

Unlike rivals, Vodaone is not promising coverage across Mumbai from the day of the launch. The rollout of its 4G network will currently cover prominent business and residential areas, which will be scaled up to other parts by March end. The rollout will be completed across all parts of the city, Navi Mumbai and Eastern suburbs by end of March.

Vodafone 4G offering is built on the 1,800 MHz band which has better propagation capabilities compared to the 2,300 MHz on which Airtel and Reliance Jio will launch their services. The company has invested Rs 7,500 crore already on its network in Mumbai. Vodafone is offering data packs starting from Rs 25 to large packs of 20 GB to data sharks.

The company said that its 4G service is built on a strong fibre backhaul of 100G and is supported by superfast 3G services on a new and modern network. With this launch, Vodafone will be able to defend is Number One position in Mumbai with 2G,3G and 4G services.

Currently, Vodafone is the only telco to offer global roaming to its customers as far 4G services are concerned. Vodafone has nine million customers in Mumbai with a smartphone penetration of 60%.