“We are in discussions with various technology partners to finalize our 5G deployment strategy. We are also working with a number of partners to develop use cases relevant to the Indian market and working with leading mobile phone manufacturers. Together, we are testing our extensive 5G smartphone portfolio with 5G,” Akshaya Moondra, CEO of Vodafone Idea (Vi), said last month. He said this at the financial results announcement for the third quarter. Based on Moondra’s comments during the conference call, the company aims to launch 5G within six to seven months of raising funding.
Interestingly, Moondra said that until last quarter, he had not seen any material impact from Vi not offering 5G services. However, days before the closing, the telecom ministry had sent a show-cause notice to the company seeking an explanation as to why it should not be fined for not meeting the minimum deployment, according to an ET report. That’s what it means.
Vi’s 5G deployment plan: When asked how the company views its 5G deployment plans, Moondra said, “I think there’s an advantage to at least being able to see how 5G deployment is going.” He said the biggest challenge for 5G is the lack of monetization. “In fact, the way 5G is priced today actually leads to a discount on 4G as well, because what’s being used in 5G doesn’t count at all,” he said.
He added that by the time Vi launches its 5G network, there will be some clarity on how monetization on 5G will work. “I think the industry needs to see some movement toward monetization because you’ve made such a large investment and you’re not seeing monetization,” Moondra said.
Shut down 3G and expand your 4G base: Vi is working on upgrading non-4G sites to 4G through spectrum restructuring. As of December 2023, the company will suspend 3G services in five regions – Gujarat, Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra, Mumbai and Kolkata by reconfiguring the spectrum to 4G. did. During the conference call, Vi CEO Akashaya Moondra said that liquidity constraints are impacting the company’s network investments and that the restructuring of existing spectrum will reduce Vi’s capital expenditures. He explained that it is useful for making effective use of the system.
“Essentially, as of today, if I had a choice, I would want to shut down all 3G sites and use the spectrum for 4G, which provides better capacity, a better experience, Of course, you can reduce or eliminate one technology, which is generally the best way to operate,” Moondra said, explaining the company’s stance on 3G. He added that he expects Vi will be able to shut down its entire 3G network by the next financial year as the number of mobile phones on the network will further decrease.
Regarding the decrease in the number of subscribers: Vi lost 4.6 million subscribers in the third quarter of fiscal 2024 (Q3 FY24), dropping from 219.8 million subscribers in the previous quarter to 215.2 million in the current quarter. did. Mr. Moondra explained that there are two main reasons behind the decline in subscribers. First, last quarter, the company partnered with Indira Gandhi’s Yojna smartphone, which helped the company curb its subscriber decline, which seemed to be becoming more pronounced. Third quarter of 2024. Second, Vi raised the cost of its entry-level plans, which led to a temporary decline in subscriber numbers, although revenue increased. “Given these two factors, our churn rate or net decline in subscribers is broadly consistent with what we saw in the first quarter,” Moondra said. The company had 221.4 million subscribers in the first quarter of 2024.
New products launched this quarter: The company launched a shop section on its Vi app this quarter. Additionally, in partnership with EaseMyTrip, we have started offering flight booking functionality through the Vi app. “We will soon be adding hotel, train and bus bookings. We have a clear roadmap to grow each of these streams and that will be our focus in the coming quarters.” Moondra explained.
Moondra also noted that the company is developing a TV app for Vi Movies and TV that is compatible with multiple operating systems, including Android, Google TV, and Fire TV Stick. These have not yet been released to customers.
Regarding data traffic reduction: Participants pointed out that Vi’s data traffic is down 2% and wondered why the company is declining when the other two major players in the industry (Airtel and Jio) are showing an increase in traffic. I asked Moondra what she was doing. Moondra said the company recorded a positive growth of 2% in the last quarter, but this percentage decreased by 2%, so the change in growth rate will be about 4%. “You’ll see the same trend in other sets of results where growth rates have declined. Growth rates have fallen by about the same level, by 4%. So this is not unique to us.” He said, explaining that the change in growth is an industry trend.
Moondra noted that the company was surprised to see this decline in the quarter when the Cricket World Cup was held. He said based on the trends the company could observe, firstly, a lot of over-the-top consumption (streaming) was happening on mobile and secondly, the India matches were being held over the weekend. As a result, these games were viewed on cable TV, where the time lag between television broadcasts was minimized. While this is a potential reason, there is no complete explanation, Moondra explained. He compared the World Cup to the Indian Premier League (IPL) and said that while data consumption has been increasing for quite some time in the IPL, consumer behavior during the World Cup is different.
Also read:
Stay up to date with tech news: Get a daily newsletter from MediaNama with the day’s top stories delivered to your inbox before 9am. Click here to register now!
