Vodafone India has more 3G/4G connections than 2G connections now. The company reported 33.6 million 2G connections, and as many as 36 million mobile broadband (3G/4G) connections for the quarter ended September 30th 2016 (Q2 FY17). The 3G/4G connections were up 12.5% quarter-on-quarter from 32.3 million connections during the last quarter. In the same quarter last year, it had 23.8 million 3G/4G connections, a growth of 50.8% year-on-year. The telecom company added 2.8 million new connections during the quarter, taking the total number of mobile connections in India to 200 million for the first time. However, Vodafone India lost 100,000 data connections during the quarter, taking the total to 69.6 million, down from 69.7 million in Q1 FY17. The company attributed the drop in data customers to increased competition in the market. Reliance Jio launched its service for the public in the same quarter with free calls and data as promo offer. Currently Vodafone claims to have launched 4G in 17 circles in India representing 94% of its data revenue. “Competition in India has increased in the year, reducing revenue growth and profitability. We have responded to this changing competitive environment by strengthening our data and voice commercial offers and by focusing our participation in the recent spectrum auction on acquiring frequencies in the more successful and profitable areas of the country,” Vittorio Colao, Group Chief Executive of Vodafone Group said in a statement. Financials For Q2FY17, Vodafone India reported an overall service revenue of € 1,495 million, down from…
