Notably, Samsung is already working with Vodafone Group for the latter’s commercial network in the UK. In February, this ORAN network partnership was expanded to Vodafone’s operations in Germany and Spain. Sources said that Vodafone Idea is also trying to build on Samsung’s global partnership and looking at possible tie-up in India following the PoC.
Vodafone Idea: Last August, it bought 5G spectrum in the 3300 MHz and 26 GHz frequency bands for Rs 18,799 crore. The airwaves were allocated to Vi by the middle of September 2022, and that binds the telco to fulfill mandatory auction conditions.
Vodafone Idea: “The time period for roll out of the network as per the roll out obligations… shall be deemed as the essence of the contract and the network must be rolled out not later than such specified time period(s). No extension in prescribed due date will be granted,” the NIA for the 5G spectrum auction said.
“We have received a couple of requests from companies (for extension of minimum rollout obligation of 5G). Those are under examination at this point in time,” telecom secretary K Rajaraman told the publication without specifying further.