Vi to focus on 4G expansion, 5G rollout after FPO – Industry News

Vodafone Idea (Vi) is planning to utilise the proceeds of its Rs 18,000 crore follow-on public offer (FPO) primarily to increase the coverage and capacity of its 4G network. It will also use the proceeds for its 5G services rollout, revenue growth, expansion of enterprise business and to monetise the digital opportunities.

Speaking about the scope for growth in the telecom industry, Vi CEO Akshaya Moondra said, “The average revenue per user (Arpu) for India is just $2.08, which is very small compared to $6.64 and $45.41 for China and the US respectively. Apart from that, telecom penetration in India is at 83% and 4G penetration stands only at 66% against 116% in China.”

He said the gap will ultimately be bridged over due to the increasing use of UPI, e-commerce and increasing data traffic. In the last seven years, data consumption in the country has grown 82-fold, and voice…