Vodafone India on Tuesday entered the 4G services arena, starting with Kochi, as it looks to take on market leader Bharti Airtel and the upcoming launch by Reliance Jio Infocomm.
The country’s second largest mobile operator will shortly launch the services in Trivandrum and Calicut. While, it plans to launch 4G in Mumbai, Delhi, Bengaluru and Kolkata by March next year.
Testing of 4G services in these locations has already commenced and Vodafone has partnered with leading global technology service providers for the network roll-out.
The company has invested Rs 700 crore in Kerala towards network expansion for 3G and 4G in the last 18 months.
“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 India MD and CEO Sunil Sood said in a statement.
The company’s 4G service in Kochi will be available from December 14, which is built on a fibre backhaul, and is supported by its own new 3G services on a network of 2100 MHz.
Vodafone said it has become the first telecom operator in Kerala to offer 2G, 3G and 4G services on its own network. Bharti Airtel on August 6 had announced launch of its 4G mobile phone services and now covers over 350 towns.