Telenor to be 4G ready by fiscal-end

New Delhi: Telecom operator Telenor India, which positions itself as the most affordable network, expects to have 4G services ready in six circles by the end of this fiscal.

"As we speak, we have already swapped 7,000 mobile sites. They are LTE ready. Based on this transformation we have started offering LTE in Varanasi. We expect entire network will be upgraded by end of this financial year," Telenor India Chief Executive officer Sharad Mehrotra told PTI.

The company has awarded Rs 1,240 crore contract to Chinese telecom equipment firm Huawei for modernising all its 25,000 mobile base station in six telecom circles where it operates.

Telenor provides mobile services in UP (West), UP (East), Bihar (including Jharkhand), Andhra Pradesh (including Telangana), Maharashtra and Gujarat. Together, these circles account for more than 50 per cent of India's population. The company has permit for Assam but is yet to start its services.

Mehrotra said 30 per cent Telenor customers are using data and rest are using voice. "No doubt future is of high speed but at same time first time data users that are trying to experiment with internet on network like Telenor. We have our own target segment.

As customer evolves they expect higher service. In future we have to have high speed data play. We are looking at spectrum auction very closely," Mehrotra said. As per TRAI data, Telenor had 7.24 lakh mobile subscribers at the end of January and was among top five telecom operators in terms of new subscriber addition. He said the firm is working to build up digital products that its offers to customers as it ramps up network.