Idea covers 10 telecom circles with its 4G LTE services

NEW DELHI: Aditya Birla group-led Idea Cellular said that it has launched its high speed 4G LTE services across 28 towns of its leadership market Maharashtra & Goa, covering major towns of Nagpur and Ahmednagar.

With this launch, the company has delivered on its promise to launch its 4G LTE services in 10 circles within FY16, which covers 50% of Indian Mobility market but over 60% of Idea’s revenue.

Starting Dec 23rd, 2015 Idea rolled out its 4G LTE services in 4 circles of south - Andhra Pradesh & Telangana, Karnataka, Kerala and Tamil Nadu & Chennai, 3 major circles of north – Madhya Pradesh & Chhattisgarh, Punjab and Haryana in February, followed by extension of services to 2 other circles Orissa and North East, and now in Maharashtra and Goa.

Presently available in over 300 towns, Idea aims to exit FY16 with its 4G LTE services covering over 550 towns in these 10 circles, and plans to extend the 4G footprint to over 750 towns by June 2016.

“Beginning Dec 23, we have rapidly expanded our 4G LTE services in these 10 markets in a record time frame of just 3 months. We have revised our capex guidance for financial year 2016 from Rs.65 billion to Rs.75 billion mainly on account of accelerated 4G capex and associated fiber rollout and are fully geared up now to grow our presence, strengthen our portfolio and make more people join the digital bandwagon," said Ambrish Jain, Deputy Managing Director, Idea Cellular.

The company is the fastest growing telecom operator with an overall RMS of 18.9% as of Q3FY16 report of TRAI. Idea has 6.1 million 4G devices, nearly 6% of its subscriber base in these 10 telecom service areas, registered on its network. In comparison, on an All India basis, Idea has nearly 48.6 million customers owning 3G devices (approx. 28% of EoP) and over 9.8 million customers with 4G devices (approx. 5% of EoP).

“We have taken a holistic approach in order to increase the uptake of this high speed mobile data offering called 4G LTE. Partnerships with leading content aggregators, smartphone vendors, Ecommerce biggies and the launch of our customized 4G website is our first step ahead in the direction of augmenting the usage of mobile data services. With the rapid expansion currently taking place, we will soon be rolling out a nation-wide, 360 degree 4G marketing campaign to up the level of engagement with the target group," said Sashi Shankar, Chief Marketing Officer, Idea Cellular.