Vodafone Idea had initially launched 5G services in Mumbai, Delhi-NCR, Bengalaru, Chandigarh, and Patna
In sum – what you need to know:
Commercial 5G now in 17 cities – Vodafone Idea has launched commercial 5G in major circles across India, with further rollouts planned in Meerut, Vizag, Madurai, and Agra.
Delayed launch, smarter tech – Vi says its later 5G rollout allowed the use of newer, cost-effective technologies, including disaggregated RAN and AI-based optimization.
4G upgrades boost speeds – Vi has expanded 4G on multiple bands, now covering 84% of India’s population, with a 35% increase in data capacity and 26% faster speeds.
Indian telecom operator Vodafone Idea (Vi) is now providing commercial 5G services in 17 cities nationwide, the telco said in a release.
With the latest additions, the telco’s 5G offering now spans 17 cities across key circles including Mumbai, Maharashtra, Delhi, Karnataka, Punjab, Bihar, Rajasthan, Haryana, Gujarat, and Kerala, Vodafone Idea said.
India’s third-largest carrier recently launched 5G in several cities, including Ahmedabad, Rajkot, Surat, Vadodara, Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar, Nashik, Kozhikode, and Malappuram, following roll-outs earlier this month in Mysuru, Nagpur, Jaipur and Sonipat.
The telco also said it expected to launch 5G in Meerut, Vizag, Madurai, and Agra in the coming days.
This is part of the company’s phased 5G rollout across 17 priority circles where it holds 5G spectrum.
The telco had initially launched 5G in Mumbai, Delhi-NCR, Bengalaru, Chandigarh, and Patna. For the 5G deployment, Vodafone Idea has partnered with Swedish vendor Ericsson to build the 5G infrastructure, which includes more energy-efficient and lightweight hardware. The telco also highlighted the use of AI-driven self-organizing network (SON) technology to boost network efficiency. Its 5G deployment is based on a non-standalone (NSA) 5G architecture.
Vodafone Idea had previously stated it will deploy 5G in 23 additional cities across India. It said it will deploy the technology in a phased manner in the following cities: Ahmedabad, Agra, Aurangabad, Kozhikode, Cochin, Dehradun, Indore, Jaipur, Kolkata, Lucknow, Madurai, Malappuram, Meerut, Nagpur, Nashik, Pune, Rajkot, Sonepat, Surat, Siliguri, Trivandrum, Vadodara, and Vizag.
Vodafone Idea previously told investors that launching 5G services later than its competitors has helped the company use newer technology and save costs. The carrier noted this delay allowed it to strategically adopt advanced Disaggregated Radio Access Network (RAN) systems, which improve operational efficiency, offer new capabilities and significantly reduce network deployment and maintenance expenses.
Vodafone Idea is also in process of expanding its 4G footprint across the country. Since April 2024, the company has deployed 4G on the 900 MHz band at 65,000 sites and added over 56,000 sites on the 1800 MHz, 2.1 GHz and TDD bands. These upgrades have increased 4G data capacity by 35% and boosted 4G speeds by 26%.
Vodafone Idea’s 4G network now covers 84% of the population, up from 77% in March 2024. The company, a joint venture between the U.K.’s Vodafone Group and India’s Aditya Birla Group, said it would continue focusing on the 17 licensed areas or telecom circles for both 4G and 5G coverage.
