Vodafone Idea has signed $3.6 billion (approx INR 300 billion) deal with the top three global companies, Nokia, Ericsson, and Samsung, for network equipment supply over three years.
Vodafone Idea has continued with its existing long-term partners, Nokia and Ericsson, and has onboarded Samsung as a new partner.
These new contracts mark the first step towards implementing the company’s transformative three-year capex plan of ~USD 6.6 billion (Rs. 550 billion).
The capex programme is directed towards expanding the 4G population coverage from 1.03 billion to 1.2 billion, launching 5G in key markets, and expanding capacity in line with data growth.
The supplies for these new long-term awards will start in the coming quarter. The company’s top priority is expanding 4G coverage to 1.2 billion Indians.
After the recent equity raise of Rs 240 billion and additional spectrum acquisition of Rs. 35 billion in the June 2024 auction, the Company has also executed some quick win Capex while simultaneously working on concluding these long-term contracts.
These quick wins were mainly achieved by deploying more spectrum on existing sites and rolling out some new sites. This will result in a ~15% boost in capacity and an increase in population coverage by 16 million by the end of September 2024.
Akshaya Moondra, CEO of Vodafone Idea Limited, said, “We are committed to investing in emerging network technologies to provide a best-in-class experience to our customers. We have kickstarted the investment cycle. We are on our journey to VIL 2.0, and from here on, VIL will stage a smart turnaround to participate effectively in the industry growth opportunities.”
“Nokia and Ericsson have been our partners since our inception, which marks another milestone in that continuing partnership. We are pleased to start our new partnership with Samsung. We look forward to working closely with all our partners as we move into the 5G era,” said Akshaya.
