Bharti Airtel and Vodafone India are preparing to deploy VoLTE shortly. This is another indication ecosystem issues concerning VoLTE have been largely resolved as Bharti had delayed its VoLTE rollout on concerns of an inadequate ecosystem.
Another significant development has been an agreement with some vendors (e.g., Micromax) to upgrade existing LTE devices via a software patch. Successful implementation of this will ensure a larger base of LTE devices that will be fully functional on Jio's network.
Data for Oct. indicates over half of the smartphones shipped were LTE devices. With LTE devices available from ~Rs4,500 (US$67) and ~30mn units in circulation, we think the LTE ecosystem is growing rapidly. An immature ecosystem was a major concern regarding the viability of Jio?s LTE-only launch.
