Vodafone to launch 4G services in 5 circles biz

VODAFONE India on Tuesday announced its plan to roll out fourth generation ( 4G) services in select cities during the second half of this year. ? We are conducting 4G trials and plan to roll out the 4G services in a few towns later this year," said managing director and chief executive officer Sunil Sood.

The company won 5 MHz spectrum in the 1,800 MHz band in five circles? Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata, Karnataka and Kerala? where 4G services will be rolled. The company will also expand its services in the North East.
Sood also said that Vodafone is completely for Net Neutrality.
? We are pro- Net Neutrality and would like to see the same rule for the same services.
There is a need to create a level playing field," he said. At the same time he said, ? Let the government decide the rules of the game but we are open to a healthy debate on the issue." Announcing the financial performance of the company for FY15, Sood said, ? We have witnessed a year- on- year growth of 12.6 per cent in our service revenue at ` 42,352 crore ( against ` 37,777 crore in FY14) and the company added about 17.2 million subscribers." Operating profit stood at ` 12,605 crore, which represents a growth of 16.2 per cent over the previous year.
Vodafone has made a fresh capital infusion of ` 6,000 crore in March to fuel its expansion plans. It expanded its 3G services from nine to 16 circles during financial year 2014- 15.
? The companys customer base stands at around 184 million and the average revenue per user at Rs200 in the fourth quarter of 2014- 15," Vodafone chief financial officer Thomas Reisten said.

The company made a capital expenditure of ` 8,598 crore mainly on new site roll out in the last fiscal, he added.

Tickets starting at Rs 1,010: SpiceJet launches 3-day sale to mark 10 years of operation

Celebrating ten years of operations, budget carrier SpiceJet today announced that it would be offering tickets for as low as Rs 1, 010 inclusive of taxes.

 The three-day sale launched on Tuesday and will be open till midnight of 21 May and tickets at the discounted rate will be available for flights from 1 July, 2015 to 15 October, 2015.

The offer is available for all domestic flights on SpiceJet’s direct, via and connecting flights network. International flights are not included in this offer.
SpiceJet, which flew its first commercial flight in 2005 completes its first decade of flying on 23 May, 2015.

India’s high-speed train in the offing

China is currently conducting a feasibility study for the $36 billion, 1,754-km Delhi-Chennai high-speed corridor.

 XI’AN: With Prime Minister Narendra Modi in Xi’an, all eyes are on the major outcomes from this visit. The two countries are expected to sign a major memorandum on expanding cooperation in the building of a high- speed rail corridor between Delhi and Chennai.

For the People’s Republic of China, building the world’s largest superfast rail network has been closely linked to the country’s booming global ambition.
In the early 1990s, the average passenger train in China ran at a speed of only 48 kilometres per hour.
Roads were badly congested and people were forced to fly even for short journeys. It was in 1999 that China began building its first high-speed rail corridor.
Within 15 years, China built a national network that is bigger than all the highspeed corridors of the world put together.
At the time of Independence, India’s rail network was nearly 54,000 km; while China’s rail network was only of 27,000 km. But since then, China has nearly quadrupled its rail network to about 110,000 km; while India has added barely 11,000 km of track in the same period.
When PM Modi announced his wish for a high-speed rail corridor linking India’s biggest cities, questions were asked about whether it’s worth spending so much on the project.
Even in China, it was widely debated as to whether it was worth investing huge sums of money on the project.
According to conservative estimates, the total cost of China’s high-speed rail corridor has been to the tune of $300 billion.
China’s early high- speed trains were imported or built under technology transfer agreements with foreign firms like Alstom, Siemens, Bombardier and Kawasaki Heavy Industries.
Chinese engineers then re-designed the train components and built indigenous trains that can reach operational speeds of up to 380 kmph. The average speed on these trains at present is 200 kilometres per hour.
In the run up to Prime Minister Modi’s visit to Beijing, Chinese authorities have been pushing for a pilot project to showcase the country’s high- speed prowess to India. China is currently conducting a feasibility study for the $36 billion, 1,754-km Delhi-Chennai high- speed corridor. China wants to speed up implementation of a shorter high-speed rail corridor from Chennai to Bengaluru and from Delhi to Agra, even while the feasibility study continues.
Key decision A study done by the World Bank says that Chinese projects are one- third cheaper than the high-speed projects by other countries.
But, India needs to decide whether it is prepared to entrust an infrastructure sector with grave national security ramifications to Chinese companies.
Days ahead of Modi’s visit, the Chinese ambassador to India has announced that deals worth US $10 billion are expected to be signed this week.