Vodafone starts 4G rollout in India with Kochi

Vodafone India, one of India’s leading telecommunication services provider, today announced the roll out of its next generation, high speed 4G network in India on the 1800 MHz band, from Kochi, Kerala.

The ultrafast speeds offered on this state of the art network will enable Vodafone 4G customers to access internet via mobile with ultrafast speeds across a range of smart devices including Mobile Wi-Fi.

Prices, as expected, are on the higher side. 20 GB has been priced at Rs 2,499.

Vodafone 4G-LTE services can be readily accessed from 4G enabled handsets. Vodafone’s 4G service in Kochi to be available for customers from 14th Dec.

“This makes Vodafone the first telecom operator in Kerala to offer 2G/3G/4G services on its own state of the art convergent radio technology – uniquely positioned to provide customers with seamless mobile internet experience,” it said.

Vodafone is the number two operator in the circle, which is dominated by Idea cellular. Idea will launch 4G in five cities in the state in the next 30 days or so.

Reliance Jio will also launch its services here by the end of this month and will reportedly price its 20 GB pack at less than Rs 1000, which is well below what Vidafone is pricing its offering at.

Announcing the launch of Vodafone’s 4G service in India, Sunil Sood, MD & CEO, Vodafone India said, “4G has the potential to revolutionize the mobile experience through powerful innovation that impacts how we work and live. Vodafone’s global expertise and experience of launching 4G across 19 countries gives us a better understanding of this technology and the needs of the 4G customer.”

Vodafone will increase the intensity of its 4G rollout covering important metros – Mumbai, Delhi, Bengaluru and Kolkata in the first phase. Testing of 4G services in these locations has already commenced successfully and Vodafone India has partnered with leading global technology service providers for the network roll-out.

Speaking on the 4G proposition for Kerala, Abhijit Kishore, Business Head –Kerala, Vodafone India said, “Kerala is a significant growth market for Vodafone India with data revenue growing over 75% annually, which is well above the national average. We are proud and delighted that Vodafone has chosen Kochi as the first city in India to launch 4G. We will soon expand our 4G service to Trivandrum and Kozhikode and continue to pursue our customer centric strategy of catering to the evolving needs of retail and enterprise customers for better and smarter solutions for both voice and data. We invite our data savvy customers in Kochi to make the most of the bonanza of special benefits being offered and enjoy the best mobile internet experience.”

Kerala is a focus market for Vodafone India. Over the last 18 months, the company has invested more than Rs 700 crores in Kerala towards network expansion and modernization to build a technology and energy efficient network architecture to support the volumes and need for speed from customers.