NEW DELHI: Vodafone idea on Wednesday said the company is partnering with premium smartphone brand OnePlus to 5G accessible to smartphone users in India.
OnePlus devices such as the latest OnePlus 10T, OnePlus 10 Pro, OnePlus 10R, as well as the Nord 2T, Nord CE 2 Lite and Nord CE 2 have been tested on 5G spectrum bands acquired by Vodafone Idea in the national capital Delhi, according to a joint statement.
OnePlus emerged as the leading 5G smartphone brand in online channels in the Rs 20,000-Rs 30,000 segment in H1 of 2022, according to Counterpoint Research.
The announcement of the partnership comes ahead of the India Mobile Congress 2022, which will be held in New Delhi from October 1 to October 4.
“Vi will continue to work with various OEM brands to enable its 4G customers to upgrade their handsets for 5G readiness,” the telco said.
Vodafone Idea owes approximately Rs 3,000 crore to Finnish equipment supplier Nokia and up to Rs 1,000 crore to Swedish Ericsson in connection with 4G networks. The telecom JV between the British Vodafone Group Plc. and India’s Aditya Birla Group (ABG) also owes about Rs 7,000 crore to tower company Indus Towers and Rs 2,000 crore to American Tower Co. (ATC).
In India’s first 5G spectrum sale, Vodafone Idea bought 6,228 MHz of ether across 1800 MHz, 2100 MHz, 2500 MHz, 3300 MHz and 26 GHz bands for Rs 18,799 crore.
Telecom market leader Jio purchased the highest spectrum of 24,740 MHz across the 700 MHz, 800 MHz, 1800 MHz, 3300 MHZ and 26 GHz bands, earning Rs 88,078 crore. In contrast, the second largest telco Airtel recorded 19,867 MHz spectrum across the 900 MHz, 1800 MHz, 2100 MHz, 3300 MHz and 26 GHz bands for a total sum of Rs 43,084 crore.
Jio and Airtel have announced their 5G acceleration partners and may initially launch fifth-generation mobile networks through Diwali, with a pan-Indian rollout expected by 2023-24.