New Delhi: Vodafone India has started fourth generation (4G)
network trials in select areas, the company said here on Friday. "We are
now trialling 4G services across selected areas," the company said.
In
India, Bharti Airtel has been expanding its 4G footprint. Reliance Jio
Infocomm is expected to come up with its 4G offer by 2015-end and Idea
Cellular is likely to launch 4G services in select
locations in 2016.
Reliance Jio Infocomm is expected to come
up with its 4G offer by 2015-end and Idea Cellular is likely to launch
4G services in select locations in 2016.
The statement said Vodafone Group has 24.1 million 4G
customers across 18 markets and 4G accounts for 35 percent of data
traffic in European markets.
"Our emerging markets have maintained
their strong momentum and more of our European businesses are returning
to growth, as customer demand for 4G and data takes off," Vittorio
Colao, group chief executive said.
The statement said data revenue
grew 65 percent in India in the April-June quarter supported by the
addition of 3.1 million new data customers, taking the total to 66.8
million.
"Smartphone penetration is now 26 percent across the
country and 47 percent in the four metro circles and we now have 22
million 3G customers compared to 10 million a year ago," the statement
said.
"While total voice traffic continues to grow, the outgoing
rate per minute has continued to decline, reflecting increased
competition," it added.
In India, Vodafone customers increased by 1.6 million giving a closing customer base of 185.4 million.
The
company said progress on Project Spring remained strong with 1,000 2G
sites and 1,100 3G sites added in the quarter (14,000 2G and 21,000 3G
since the build commenced), taking the 3G outdoor population coverage in
targeted urban areas to 91 percent.
Project Spring is an
investment programme to accelerate and extend Vodafone's strategy to
focus on data, enterprise and emerging markets.
Regarding its mobile wallet business, the statement said: "Now we have 501,000 active customers supported by 94,000 agents."