Vodafone expands base in North East through launch of 3G

Vodafone, second largest mobile telecom operator in India launched 3G services in Guwahati to strengthen its base in North Eastern market. Guwahati is the capital and largest city in Assam with more than 1 million population. In order to improve its network and connectivity, Vodafone invested more than ₹500cr in Assam and North East telecom circle. In the period between April – October 2015, Vodafone added 115 2G sites along with 248 2G towers. This is in addition of up gradation of existing 150 sites.

Till now Vodafone offered 3G services through bilateral roaming agreements (ICR) with other mobile carriers. But after acquiring 2100 Mhz (3G) spectrum for Assam & North East circle during March 2015 spectrum auctions, Vodafone ramped up its network and infrastructure. It is focusing on providing 3G connectivity to its customer to generate revenues via high speed broadband internet, video calling and other value added services.

North East circle active mobile subscriber base is 8.79 million at the end of September 2015. Vodafone has 13.7% market share in North East with 1.21 million active users. With added network capacity and launch of 3G services, Vodafone may provide competition to market leader Bharti Airtel which holds 39.3% market share of active mobile users.