Telecom operator Idea Cellular today said it added 5,006 4G sites and 9,236 3G cellular sites during the second quarter ended September 30, 2016.

At present, Idea Cellular has 24,945 4G sites, now covering 171 million Indians across nearly 2,400 towns and 7,500 villages in 10 service areas.

Idea Cellular has added 9,236 3G sites. The number of 3G sites of Idea Cellular is 60,467 3G sites, now covering 377 million Indians across 4,100 towns and 73,000 villages in 13 service areas.

Idea Cellular also acquired 349.2 MHz of spectrum, including 149.2 MHz (2×74.6 MHz FDD) spectrum in frequency bands of 1800 MHz and 2100 MHz – during the October 2016 spectrum auction in India – by expanding its spectrum portfolio by over 64 percent.

Idea Cellular has expanded mobile broadband coverage to Pan India and additional 200 MHz (TDD) spectrum in frequency bands of 2300 MHz and 2500 MHz to address the future requirement of capacity.

Idea Cellular is now well equipped to offer 4G services on its own spectrum across 20 service areas, covering 94 percent of its revenue. Idea owns two carriers of prime 1800 MHz frequency band in 7 out of 8 leadership circles (ex. Andhra Pradesh) and additional 1 – 3 carriers of capacity spectrum.

Idea Cellular acquired 2100 MHz spectrum for 3G only in high population service areas of Bihar and Rajasthan, expanding Idea’s capability to offer 3G services on its own spectrum to 15 circles.

Idea now owns 64 broadband carriers (47 – 4G and 17 – 3G.

The blended mobile data ARPU (2G+3G+4G) stands at Rs 130 against Rs 144 in Q2FY16. Data usage per subscriber is increasing, to 694 MB in Q2FY17 from 615 MB in Q2FY16.

The mobile data revenue contribution is 21.9 percent of Service Revenue while overall Non Voice Revenue (including data) contribution has increased to 29.6 percent from 27.9 percent in Q2FY16.

9 million Idea customers upgraded their existing 2G phones to 3G and or 4G smartphones (5.1 million 4G upgrade), taking the overall smartphone count to 70.4 million (nearly 40 percent of Idea’s subscribers).

In Q2FY17, 3.7 million smartphone owners started to use mobile broadband services and overall base increased to 30.7 million broadband users.

Mobile broadband data volume (3G+4G) has grown exponentially at 85.5 percent from 43.1 bn MB in Q2FY16 to 79.9 bn MB in Q2FY17.

3.1 million customers are actively using Idea 4G services, out of 19.3 million 4G device owners in Idea’s overall subscriber base.

Baburajan K
[email protected]