Vodafone has signed a wide 2G intra-circle roaming agreement with BSNL to provide better telecom services to their respective customers. The partnership is said to improve connectivity and customer experience overall.
Vodafone and state-owned BSNL have inked a country wide 2G intra-circle roaming agreement to provide better telecom services to their respective customers. The agreement will help Vodafone expand its 2G network further, especially in rural areas and strengthens BSNL’s network reach in urban areas, it said.
Vodafone India has over 1,37,000 towers across the country and BSNL has more than 1,14,000 (tower). Back in May, the BSNL was in talks with Reliance Jio and Vodafone for signing a 2G roaming agreement this month. Under the agreement, customers of Reliance Jio and Vodafone will get access to BSNL network where there is a coverage gap. The state-run firm has deep presence in rural areas as other companies have invested very conservatively due to low return on investments. Once the agreement is finalized, BSNL customers will also have access to the networks of Reliance Jio and Vodafone. In terms of mobile base stations, BSNL stands second in the country. It has around 1.14 lakh and is in process of installing another 21,000 mobile towers.
“Vodafone and BSNL today signed a 2G intra-circle roaming agreement to use each other’s assets and network strength across the country. This strategic partnering will lead to improved connectivity and enhance the customer experience overall,” Vodafone said in a release.
“We want our hundreds of million customers to consistently enjoy a superior network experience and remain confidently connected, at all times, for all their voice and data needs,” said Sunil Sood, MD and CEO of Vodafone India. Vodafone has made significant investments to expand, enhance and upgrade its network, making SuperNet its best network ever, he added.
This partnering with BSNL will further strengthen the reach of our network especially in the hinterland of the country and surrounding rural areas, Mr Sood said. Anupam Shrivastava, chairman and managing director of BSNL, said, “We continue to expand our network across the country with more sites and sharing infrastructure with other telecom service providers.” ”This partnering with Vodafone will help us make our network coverage better, especially in urban areas, enabling our customers to have a better experience of our services,” he added.
Vodafone India, a fully-owned subsidiary of the UK’s Vodafone Group Plc, has operations across the country serving over 199 million customers. BSNL had a user base of 89.54 million at the end of June this year.
Source: bgr.in
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