Samsung to replace Vi's Chinese gear with 5G equipment in priority circles

New equipment from Ericsson and Nokia to focus on 4G, raise population coverage to 90%

Vodafone Idea's (Vi’s) latest order of network equipment from new partner Samsung will lead to 5G gear deployment in its six to seven telecom circles where the telco has existing gear installed from Chinese equipment makers Huawei and ZTE, Chief Technology Officer (CTO) Jagbir Singh told Business Standard.

Equipment from global vendors Nokia, and Ericsson will be used to boost the company’s 4G capabilities and raise the 4G population coverage to 90 per cent in the next 12 months from the current 77 per cent, he said in an interview.

Last month, the telco inked a Rs 30,000 crore deal for the supply of network equipment from the three global vendors. It marked Vi's first-ever tie-up with Samsung. The deal is the first step towards the roll-out of the company’s three-year capex plan of about $6.6 billion or Rs 55,000 crore announced earlier.

"All 5G deployments will be done by Samsung. The sites where these 5G will run, Samsung's 4G will also come in. This is the objective behind getting the third vendor. In 3 years, we plan to do 75,000 5G sites," Singh said.

He said the company would prioritise the replacement of Chinese equipment that has reached the end of its operational life.

"We are not going to swap just like that. As long as the equipment is working, it will remain in the network," Singh said.

He said Vi has ensured the new gear is more power efficient, weighs less, and has the latest features of both 4G and 5G. Jio's 5G will run on the Non-Standalone architecture.

Since June 2021, technology service providers (TSPs) have been mandatorily required to connect to their networks only those new devices which are designated as ‘trusted products’ from ‘trusted sources’. The move is aimed at curbing strategic security risks emerging from Chinese equipment majors. Both ZTE and Huawei have not received approval from the National Cyber Security Coordinator (NCSC) as they are yet to meet the clearance requirements.

Focus on 4G

With the focus remaining on 4G, the telco plans to deploy the new gear across 45,000 4G sites in the next 18-24 months.

At 126.7 million, 4G users made up 60 per cent of Vi's customer base of 210.1 million subscribers as of the April-June quarter (Q1) of FY25.

While the company added to its 4G numbers for the 12th successive time that quarter, Vi lost 2.5 million subscribers overall to rivals. After losing high-end customers to Jio and Airtel, Vi is now facing the spectre of 2G customers abandoning it for the state-run telecom BSNL which has not raised tariffs, while all three private telcos upped prices in July.