dea Cellular, India’s third largest mobile operator, offered its high-speed fourth-generation (4G) mobile phone services across south India on Wednesday, ahead of rival Reliance Jio’s long-awaited debut.
The Aditya Birla Group company will start offering services in all five southern states — Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Kerala, Tamil Nadu and Telangana — covering 75 towns in the first phase by December 31, 2015.
Reliance Jio will conduct a soft launch of its services limited to employees on December 27, the eve of the birth anniversary of Reliance Industries founder Dhirubhai Ambani.
With this offering, Idea will become the sole operator in 41 of the 75 towns to offer 4G services. Market leader Bharti Airtel and Vodafone India are present in the remaining towns.
Major towns to be covered under Idea’s 4G LTE services are Kochi, Hosur, Kadapa, Malapuram, Madurai, Mysore, Rajahmundry, Tiruchirappalli, Tirunelveli, Tiruppur, Vijayawada, and Vishakhapatnam.
Belgaum, Calicut, Cuddalore, Chitradurga, Guntur, Kakinada, Kancheepuram and Trichur will follow by December 31, 2015, said a company statement.
Idea will expand 4G services in all southern metros and large towns, including Bengaluru, Chennai, Hyderabad, Thiruvananthapuram, Mangalore, and Coimbatore by March 2016.
“Worldwide, 4G technology is gaining widespread acceptance with global 4G subscriptions crossing the 1 billion-mark. The launch of Idea 4G LTE services will further expand Idea’s wireless broadband network and propel the brand to an even higher growth trajectory,” said Himanshu Kapania, managing director, Idea Cellular.
Idea is also gearing to launch 4G services by March 2016 in other key markets namely, Madhya Pradesh & Chhattisgarh, Maharashtra & Goa, Punjab, Haryana, North East, and Orissa in a phased manner.
By June 2016, Idea’s 4G footprint will cover 750 cities across 10 telecom circles. “We have 170 million consumers and expect the number to grow significantly after our 4G launch,” Mr Kapania told The Hindu .
Idea Cellular holds 1800 MHz 4G spectrum in these 10 telecom circles, which cover 50 per cent of the telecom market and bring in over 60 per cent of Idea’s gross revenue.
Recently, Idea signed an agreement with Videocon Telecommunications Limited for acquiring ‘Right to Use’ 1800 MHz spectrum under ‘Spectrum Trading Agreement’ in two of its key telecom leadership markets of Gujarat and Uttar Pradesh (West). Post completion of this transaction, 4G services will be extended to 12 service areas, covering 75 per cent of Idea’s revenue base in the country.
Idea customers with 4G devices in these 75 towns can now start experiencing superfast speeds by upgrading their existing SIM cards to new 4G SIM cards, said the statement.
Idea has also partnered with leading handset manufacturers and e-commerce retailers for special data bundling offers on new 4G smart phones.
