Idea strengthens Pan-India wireless broadband to boost capacity spectrum portfolio

Based on the final round provisional results on the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) auction website, India's third largest mobile operator Idea has successfully completed its Pan-India Mobile Broadband footprint to boost its capacity spectrum portfolio.

"To fulfill our Prime Minister Narendra Modi's vision of Digital India, Idea in this Auction completes its Pan India Wireless Broadband Footprint. With an aggregate spectrum holding of over 890 MHz (in FDD and TDD technology bands) including acquisition in the current auction of 349.20 MHz, Idea has filled all of its spectrum coverage requirements, while procuring a substantial part of its broadband capacity needs for the next decade," said Chairman Idea Cellular Limited, Kumar Mangalam Birla.

"The company will now focus on expanding its Wireless Broadband presence primarily on 4G LTE technology to over a billion Indians while offering World Class high speed Digital Customer experience like never before," added Birla.

With the procurement of 349.2 MHz of spectrum at an aggregate bid value of Rs. 12,798 crore, Idea has acquired additional 2x74.6 MHz spectrum in FDD technology on 1800 and 2100 bands, and 200 MHz of capacity spectrum in TDD technology on 2300 and 2500 bands.

This enables Idea to complete its mobile broadband footprint across all 22 licensed service areas in India and also equips the company with substantial capacity spectrum required for meeting data capacity needs for its ever growing 180 million customer base.

Idea is now well equipped to offer 4G services on its own spectrum across 20 service areas including nine new service areas of Uttar Pradesh (West), Uttar Pradesh (East), Gujarat, Bihar and Jharkhand, Rajasthan, and other states.

With this large spectrum quantity procurement and an ongoing expansion of its world class Wireless broadband infrastructure, Idea will now be able to service its over 180 million strong customer base with a full array of Digital services on high-speed broadband platform.