Vodafone connects to rural India for data segment growth

UP East is the largest telecom circle in India with consolidated subscriber base of about 60 million

Telecom major Vodafone is bullish on rural India to drive future growth in mobile phone services, especially data segment.

The company is harping on the low penetration of internet services in semi-urban and rural areas to boost revenue from data services.

“Data revenue growth has been consistent and has clocked five to six month-on-month growth in Uttar Pradesh (East) circle,” Circle Business Head, Pankaj Thapliyal told Business Standard.

UP(E) is the largest telecom circle in India with consolidated subscriber base of about 60 million.Vodafone commands subscriber base of about 13.2 million, comprising 8.5 million and 4.7 million in rural and urban areas respectively.

“Data is a definite growth story from UP perspective due to huge population base and rising aspirations of the youth. The hinterland brings in huge opportunity to us,” he said. With population of over 200 million, UP has two telecom circles UP (E) and UP (W).

He said the falling prices of smart phones, which start as cheap as Rs 5,000, has been fuelling the growth in cell phone segment, including 2G and 3G.

The growth in mobile phone data segment would largely depend upon the penetration of feature rich and smart phones in rural areas.

“The conversion from 2G to 3G services has been steady as subscribers are realising the benefits of faster speed with 3G,” Thapliyal said.

Vodafone has about 9,000 cell sites in the circle, of which 15 per cent had been upgraded to support 3G services.

 “We would upgrade our cell site infrastructure depending upon the volume of demand coming from specific rural pockets,” he informed.

Recently, the company had launched mobile-wallet (m-wallet) service ‘m-pesa’ in the circle in association with ICICI Bank. The service allows cell phone users remit money to any mobile phone/bank account, pay bills, recharge mobile, shop and participate in e-commerce.