Pushpinder Singh Gujral, business head (Assam & Northeast) of Vodafone India speaks at the news conference in Guwahati on Friday. Picture by UB Photos

Guwahati, April 4: Telecom service provider Vodafone is banking on its connect-with-the-masses strategy to sustain growth in the Northeast.

“We have posted a year-on-year revenue growth of 28 per cent in the Assam and Northeast circle in the last fiscal. We expect to sustain the trend through network expansion and better services that include special initiatives to engage and touch the lives of customers,” Pushpinder Singh Gujral, business head (Assam and North East), Vodafone India, said here today.

The telecom major, which has a subscriber base of 3.9 million in the Assam and Northeast circle, today launched a month-long talent hunt, Rongalir Ron, to pick the best Bihu troupe in the state over two rounds.

“This is our sixth endeavour to connect with the masses after we had celebrities going door-to-door across the state in the previous years to perform husori during Rongali Bihu. We have also engaged ourselves in connecting with people of other states as well during festivals,” Gujral said.

According to TRAI data, Vodafone’s revenue market share stands at 15.6 per cent. It ranks third in the circle after Airtel and Aircel in terms of revenue share.

“Vodafone has risen to the third position in the circle in a span of five years since its launch. It has a presence in seven states of the circle covering 15,565 towns and villages. So far we have covered 61 per cent of the population,” he said.

Vodafone has also bolstered its tower presence to over 4,000 in the circle. “We started with 340 in 2008 and today we have 4,000-plus towers. We have plans to set up more towers depending on the availability of locations,” Gujral said.

Post-paid consumers comprise just 2 per cent of the subscriber base in the circle. “However, the growth of post paid connections is doubling every year in the Assam and Northeast circle,” he said.

Despite a sluggish growth in the telecom sector, the official said the company has recorded growth both in revenue and subscriber base.

In November last year, the telecom major launched a mobile money transfer and payment service, M-Pesa, in the circle. “The response in the circle has been encouraging so far. M-Pesa has a twin objective of financial inclusion of banks and empowering people in the unbanked and under-banked areas with financial services through their cell phones,” Gujral said.

As on March 2014, Vodafone’s data services cover more than 14,900 villages (census identified) in Assam and the Northeast.

M-Pesa covers 43 districts, 133 tehsils, 350-plus towns and villages in the circle.