India’s Vodafone Essar is planning to spend up to $500 million over the next two years on its 3G network rollout. The company expects to launch its first 3G services in India early next year, according to Mr Marten Pieters, Managing Director.
The Big Red’s move is somewhat surprising considering that a couple of rival networks will go live with 3G before the end of the year, whereas the two state-owned operators have existing 3G services. Vodafone, however, is confident that the slow pace of the launch won’t have any material impact.
“India has been waiting for ages for 3G… In my view, a delay of a couple of months more will not make much of a difference. We do not want to offer patchy, localized service and will hit the market when ready,” Mr Pieters said. He also added that they [Vodafone] would price its services “competitively” and that it was waiting to see what competition would have to offer on the pricing front.
“Surely, the rates will not be as high as in the US or Germany. But I don’t think they will be the lowest either. Operators have paid a lot of money to get very limited spectrum of only 5MHz, compared to 20MHz in other countries. They are spending money on rolling out networks, so they won’t be dumping tariffs,” he concluded.
[Via: CellularNews]