Videocon Telecom plans to invest Rs.1,200 Crore to roll out 4G Services

Videocon Telecom has plans to roll out 4G services in UPE, UPW and Bihar telecom circles. The telco which holds 5Mhz liberalized spectrum in the 1,800 Mhz band in the circles plans to utilize the entire spectrum for rollout of 4G LTE services in 29 key cities and offer voice on overlay network in these select cities. In the remaining coverage area, the telco shall offer 2G voice on own network.

As per the telco, 4G LTE FDD technology is very efficient on 1,800 Mhz and allows greater speeds and accommodates higher subscriber base to provide an unmatched customer experience. This will also give telco the distinction of being the first telco to offer 4G LTT FDD services on 1,800 Mhz in the country with digital voice.

The telco will be making an investment of over Rs.1,200 crore in the next three years for 4G rollout in 29 cities across these three circles. The telco will be rolling out in 6 cities in phase 1, 12 cities in phase 2 and another 11 cities in phase 3, covering the key potential cities across these circles. The telco is working closely with Deloitte as their consulting partner and Huawei and NSN as their technology partner, who are also telco’s partners in their existing operations.

Arvind Bali, Director & CEO, Videocon Telecom, said, “Our strategy now is to take the first mover advantage on data and do what we couldn’t do on voice having missed the bus. This will also give us the distinction of being the first telco to offer 4G LTT FDD services on 1,800 Mhz in the country. We plan to invest over Rs.1,200 crore in the next three years for the rollout of 4G services in these three circles, and, with this, we also plan to prioritize our ISP rollout in these circles to compeiment 4G. We will be offering bundled 4G devices, including Myfi dongles.”

Among the other opportunities that the telco is foreseeing include ICR arrangement with other telcos for 4G data, which could come as an added business line for them or/and barter for voice ICR. The telco which has recently bagged the class A pan-India ISP licence plans to prioritize its ISP rollout in these circles to offer Wi-Fi offloading for its 4G data services.

The telco plans to offer 4G data at 2G/3G rates to encourage early adoption, and will be offering bundled devices as well.