We already have proposed plans for sites in the following areas, which will be rolled out over the first 6 months after community consultation:
Thereafter, Vodafone, Telecom & the Ministry of Economic Development will undertake an extensive community consultation programme for the RBI with initial discussions with each community occurring approximately 18 months ahead of the actual build programme. We will release details of planned deployments on this site once available.
There will be three main products available to consumers through Vodafone and our retail partners. For all options customers will need a WiFi broadband router, which Vodafone will offer through retail service providers. For customers living in remote areas, Vodafone will also offer an external antenna which will sit on their roof and point to the nearest cell tower. This external antenna provides improved coverage and service reliability through better signal strength.
We are committed to meeting the government’s objective that rural areas will receive urban-like pricing. It is also important to note that all wireless operators charge rural and urban customers the same rates for voice, txt and data, unlike fixed broadband where prices are often different. We expect the RBI to allow retail service providers to deliver urban prices to rural customers.
