Vodafone stock jumps 3%, telco plans to slash 5G network costs

Shares of Vodafone Idea Limited rose over 3 percent to Rs 9.35 in early trade on August 31 as the cash-strapped telecom company is exploring different technologies to reduce the cost of deployment of its upcoming 5G network, The Economic Times reported.

The company has initiated proof of concepts or PoC with Samsung for openRAN and VRAN technologies with Mavenir, a US-based telecommunications software company.

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OpenRAN vs VRAN

OpenRAN technology in the telecom sector is a nonproprietary version of the Radio Access Network (RAN) system that allows interoperation between cellular network equipment provided by different vendors. On the other hand, VRAN is a virtualised radio access network and is seen as the next step in the evolution of cellular networks, particularly in advancing 5G, helping to evolve previously hardware-driven functions by making them virtualised or software-based.

The report, citing sources, suggests that Samsung is conducting proof of concepts with Vodafone in 20 sites in Tamil Nadu, and with Mavenir in and around Punjab.

This isn’t the first step the company has taken to reduce its expenses. In August itself, PTI reported that Vodafone Idea is planning to clear about Rs 2,400 crore of dues to the government by September.

The telecom major’s net loss widened to Rs 7,840 crore for the quarter ended June 2023. Its revenue from operations rose by a marginal 2 percent to Rs 10,655 crore in the first quarter, compared with Rs 10,410 crore in the same quarter of last year.

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