Vodafone India will start trials for fourth-generation (4G) services later this year, though the country's No. 2 mobile phone operator continues to focus on expanding its 3G coverage amid surging data growth, its chief technology officer said.
The Indian unit of UK's Vodafone Group has yet to decide on the location for starting trials, Vishant Vora said in Pune Wednesday. It will ready itself to launch 4G in the five circles where it won 5 Mhz or more of airwaves in the 1800 Mhz band in the February auctions, but will start operations only when 4G-enabled cheaper mobile devices are readily available. The five circles are Delhi, Karnataka, Kerala, Kolkata and Mumbai.
He said the equipment for 2G network that it has installed in the past two years is ready for 4G radio service as well. Around 30,000 sites out of the company's 100,000 have been upgraded over the past three years and are 4G ready, he added.
Experts say 4G is the technology for the future in India with initial contracts, around a 4G technology known as long-term evolution, likely to be signed by mobile phone operators around six months from now. Indian mobile operators, including Vodafone, are largely of the view that a broad adoption of 4G is at least a couple of years away, with 3G being the technology for high-speed broadband and data usage for now.
Vodafone India to start 4G trials this year - The Economic Times