NEW DELHI: Idea Cellular said it expects to close the new 4G ICR arrangements with Vodafone India at the earliest for an additional 4G coverage in nearly 5,000 new towns and neighboring villages for each operator. Idea and Vodafone had last month entered into an active Infrastructure sharing arrangement to avoid duplication of spends and make the best use of capital expenditure (capex). Both telcos have now started to enjoy expanded coverage from such shared sites. Idea said that it is on course to introduce its own VoLTE – ‘Voice over LTE’ by early calendar year 2018. As 4G adoption rate is ahead of initial company estimates primarily driven by affordable smartphones, expanding 4G coverage and world’s lowest ‘voice and mobile broadband tariffs’, almost all of Idea’s incremental network capital investments is allocated to 4G expansion (including fiber and capacity). The 4G population under Idea's coverage has nearly tripled from 14.8% (...