Boston, MA 10/14/2013 (wallstreetpr) – The superfast 4G network is a lucrative market that has taken provider competition a little violent. Vodafone Group Plc (ADR) (NASDAQ:VOD) has joined the foray. It is struggling to define its own path, but its clear intent is to match the market control level of its big rival Everything Everywhere Limited (EE) and then climb over it mercilessly.
This is not the best time to court rivals, and VOD knows it just too well. The 4G network has potential of bringing in a lot of revenue for the UK’s third largest mobile provider, just like it’s already doing for other providers globally. And VOD has already started well on this course.
So far, VOD has attracted over 100,000 subscribers to its new superfast network which it claims is six times faster than the 3G network. It has taken seven weeks of sales campaigns to get this far. It means there is greater potential for VOD to exploit in this market.
Its subscription rate to this network is about 15K customers on a weekly basis. Its larger rival EE had similar results in its initial six months. VOD has this far connected at least 80 central and peripheral London districts to its new network.
Vodafone’s 4G signal is already available in Coventry, Birmingham, Nottingham, Leicester, Sheffield and Nottingham. And before the close of October, the signal will be available in Glasgow and Liverpool.
The mobile operator now in 4G network business has a target of capturing UK’s 98% indoor coverage by fall of 2015. It’s rival EE which now has the largest 4G signal coverage has 1 million customers to its network having late October 2012.
It remains to be seen just how the battle for this lucrative market shapes up and only time and strategy will tell who has the last-longest laugh in the market. But so far, VOD is proud to give its range of signal coverage in London area which spans Harlow in the north to Dorking in the south and from Windsor in the west to Dartford in the east. And the company says it’s been switching on a new site every half an hour in London.
