Vodafone Idea to expand India 5G footprint to 133 cities by May

Vodafone Idea said it will launch 5G in 90 additional cities in India in the next two months, taking its footprint from 43 cities to 133 by the end of May. The operator said it is targeting locations with high adoption of 5G-compatible devices.

Vodafone Idea also plans to densify 5G coverage in 15 service areas: Mumbai, Delhi, Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Andhra Pradesh, Gujarat, Maharashtra, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh & Chhattisgarh, Haryana, Punjab, UP-East, UP-West, Kolkata and West Bengal. The company said it is prioritising industrial corridors and emerging urban clusters, using self-optimising network technology for performance and energy efficiency, and working with Nokia, Ericsson and Samsung Networks on the rollout.

Vodafone Idea began its 5G rollout in early 2025, later than rivals Reliance Jio and Bharti Airtel, which said in 2023 that they had reached all of India's defined service areas with 5G coverage. GSMA Intelligence said that in Q4 2025 Reliance Jio had 210.5 million 5G connections, Bharti Airtel had 182.4 million, and Vodafone Idea had 6.1 million.