Vodafone Idea said the commercial launch of 5G services in Mumbai is planned for March 2025 while Delhi Bangalore Chandigarh and Patna will see the launch of 5G services in April 2025. Vodafone Idea said it rapidly expanded its 4G coverage and capacity during this year. In the last nine months the telco increased our 4G population coverage by 41 million reaching 1.07 billion by the end of Dec24 compared to 1.03 billion in March 24. This can also pose a major challenge in front of other telecom giants like Mukesh Ambani led Reliace Jio or Sunil Mittal led Airtel as they also need to prepare for 5G roll out as early as possible. During the same period Vis 4G data capacity expanded by 24% driving 28% improvement in 4G speeds. We are on track to achieve our 4G population coverage target of 1.1 billion by March 2025 and plan to further increase it to 1.2 billion i.e. 90% of population the telco said in its Q3 results statement. Vodafone Idea Expansion Plan During the quarter Vodafone Idea also expanded its footprint to more than 4000 unique broadband towers the largest addition in a quarter by the company since merger. We continued network enhancement by deploying 4G on sub GHz 900 band across 15000 sites offering increased coverage as well as superior indoor network experience. We also added 10400 sites in the 1800 MHz and 2100 MHz bands primarily to increase the network capacity resulting in customers experiencing faster data speed on Vi GIGAnet network the telco said. The planned rollout marks a significant step in Vi’s commitment to offering next-generation connectivity across India. By leveraging its growing 4G infrastructure the company aims to ensure a seamless transition to 5G for its users particularly in major urban hubs. Vodafone Idea On 5G Launch Vodafone Idea CEO Akshaya Moondra said the company is driving investments and the velocity of capex deployment is set to accelerate in the coming quarters. Concurrently the phased rollout of 5G services is underway targeting key geographies he noted. As per VIL this reform will also ensure that the exposure of the banking system is utilised by telecom operators towards further proliferation of 4G and 5G networks in the country. Vodafone Idea Q3 Loss Narrows  On a consolidated basis the loss for the quarter was Rs 6609.3 crore as against Rs 6985.9 crore in the year-ago period. Customer ARPU (average revenue per user) -- a key metrics for all telcos -- for the third quarter of the current fiscal year stood at Rs 173 up from Rs 166 in the July-September period. On a sequential basis this translated into a growth of 4.7 per cent. Vodafone Idea CEO Akshaya Moondra said the company is driving investments and the velocity of capex deployment is set to accelerate in the coming quarters. We are pleased to report highest quarterly cash EBITDA since merger of Rs 24.5 billion (Rs 2450 crore) registering a YoY growth of about 15 per cent. With our intensifying investments we anticipate further improvement in both operational and financial performance he said. (With inputs from PTI)