Vodafone bides for a rebirth

Vodafone relying on 1800 for 4G does a number of things - it will ensure that the Vodafone 4G network cannot compete with Telstra at 700 (Vodafone bides for a rebirth, February 8). The amount of spectrum is not relevant here , what is relevant for 1800 is the extra number of sites required to provide indoor coverage particularly for high speed data which is what 4G is all about. It is a smokescreen when Morrow tells everyone that Vodafone have enough spectrum and do not need 700 - the reality is because of the earlier posturing that Vodafone may not participate Conroy set the floor price for the auction based on only 2 players and that effectively locked Vodafone out as they cannot afford the 700 spectrum as the shareholders clearly are not willing to fund it. This then plays into the lower cost base which in reality when you look at the numbers is still not as low as the competition because of the scale of both Telstra and Optus compared to a shrinking Vodafone. And the challenge then becomes at 1800 Vodafone are going to need significantly more sites than even Telstra to be able to offer competitive data speeds which in turn increases costs significantly. That lesson was obvious years ago when Telstra launched NextG at 850 . Instead of taking constant aim in the press at Telstra all Morrow needs to do is to look at what they have done well and follow keeping in mind the focus that Telstra now have on customers which is sadly lacking in Vodafone.