Videocon shelves plan to shift to 4G network

Ruchika M. Khanna

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, December 4

Telecom service provider Videocon has shelved its plan to upgrade its network to 4G, citing poor acceptability of the technology launched by other national telecom players. Instead, it has upgraded its 2G network to 2.75G EDGE (Enhanced Data for GSM Evolution).

The company has invested Rs 130 crore on upgrading its 2G network, which it feels, will help it offer high-speed data to its customers. Since the company does not have a 3G licence, it is relying on 2.75G to provide high-speed data service to its 8 million customers.

Arvind Bali, CEO of Videocon Telecom, said the company had decided to shelve the plan for using 4G technology because the penetration of this technology among the mobile data users was just 0.5%. “Even the penetration of 3G services is as low as 1.5%, mainly because the 3G enabled handsets have very few takers. Thus, we decided to enhance our 2G network to 2.75G, which will offer speeds equivalent to 3G technology, without the customer having to change his handset,” he said.

He said with 80% of mobile data users having 2G handsets, there is a large customer base that can be catered to with an advanced technology at 2G rates. The 2.75G EDGE network is capable of delivering speeds up to 473.6 Kbps.

He said with the upgraded network they hope its data user base will go up by over 45% in a year. “We will shortly launch our advertisement campaign and Rs 100 crore has been set aside for the purpose,” he said.