Key Highlights

  • Airtel, Vodafone and Idea have announced plans to improve their networks.
  • Vodafone launched over 500 new sites to provide its ‘SuperNet’ services in more than 8000 towns in UP-West & Uttarakhand.
  • Idea said it has expanded its network to 260,000 sites across the country.

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Indian telecom operators are racing to be ‘the best in the business,’ by readying their internet facilities for what looks like another explosion of data services by the companies.

In the past two weeks the incumbent operators – Airtel, Vodafone and Idea Cellular have announced improvements to their networks.

Airtel, India’s telecom major, announced a partnership with South Korean telecommunications company – SK Telecom to enhance its network coverage in India and bring 5G services to the country as early as next year.
 
“The two companies will also collaborate on an on-going basis to evolve standards for 5G, Network Functions Virtualization (NFV), Software-defined Networking (SDN) and Internet of Things (IoT), and jointly work towards building an enabling ecosystem for the introduction of these technologies in the Indian context,” Airtel said in a release dated September 13.
 
Vodafone launched over 500 new sites to provide its ‘SuperNet’ services in more than 8000 towns in UP-West & Uttarakhand.
 
The SuperNet services are now available in Meerut, Dehradun, Agra, Haridwar, Aligarh, Bareilly, Meerut, Moradabad and Bijnor.
 
Even Idea Cellular, the telecom wing of the Aditya Birla Group has announced that it has expanded its network to 260,000 sites across the country. The company said 50% of its sites will be dedicated to mobile broadband services.
 
Currently, Reliance Jio is the only network with 4G network connectivity throughout India.
 
In broadband services, Jio has been the market leader with 41% market share. Airtel follows next with 18.95% share and Vodafone ranks third with 13% share, as per the data released by Telecom Regulatory Authority of India as on July 31.

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