To add up to the festivity in Andhra Pradesh, IDEA Cellular has introduced three new recharge vouchers branded as Super 50. These recharge vouchers are targeted towards users with varied usage behaviours. Read on to find out what’s in offering –
[Read more…] about IDEA Cellular’s Super 50 Recharge vouchers in Andhra Pradesh
Earlier this year, IDEA Cellular had released its plans to launch its GSM service in 5 new circles which included West Bengal, Kolkata, North East, Assam and J&K. Well, a few days back we saw IDEA making a quite entry in Kolkata, now they have even successfully launched their services in the J&K circle.
The bad news is that, IDEA Cellular won’t be available in the whole of J&K circle. To initiate their operations, IDEA Cellular’s network will only be available in Jammu City, Bari Brahmana, Bishnah, Katra, Udhampur and Jammu-Katra Highway regions. Other major towns in J&K like Srinagar, Lakhanpur, Badgam, Anantnag, Mattan, Kulgam, Pulwama, Shopian, Ganderbal, Patan and Sumbal will be covered gradually.
[Read more…] about IDEA Cellular launches GSM services in J&K
IDEA Cellular, a pan-India mobile operator seems to have quietly launched its GSM services in Kolkata. The launch without any big opening or inaugural ceremony. IDEA hasn’t released an official press release yet and we can’t even find the Kolkata circle listed on its website, but our reader from Kolkata have informed us that IDEA prepaid sim-cards are available to general public across Kolkata. We’ll bring our readers their launch plans and schemes once the official word is out, in the interim, if our Kolkata readers wants to add anything then feel free to do so.
[Thanks, Debashish!]
IDEA Cellular launched its services in Mumbai around a year back and within a year it has been able to grow gradually and steadily in this highly competitive metro city. The current base of IDEA Mumbai subscribers stands at more than a million.
To further attract customers and as a special Diwali and Christmas offer, IDEA has launched a special tariff voucher priced at Rs 47 which will enable IDEA subscribers to make local calls at 40 paise per minute for the entire year. The voucher will also reduce the STD and SMS rates bringing it down to 50 paise on any mobile or landline network.
However, this special tariff does come with one condition, which is; everyday, the first minute/SMS will attract the regular tariff and subsequently users can enjoy the special reduced rates. Looks like IDEA Cellular is hitting back on RCom which today came up with a special tariff plan of 50 paise per minute which is without any voucher or conditions.
Tata DOCOMO shook the Indian telecom market when it came up with its innovative per second billing tariff. In reply to the Tata Docomo’s one-second billing plan, IDEA Cellular, launched a new ‘Super seconds’ tariff plan in Rajasthan, Himachal Pradesh, Bihar and Jharkhand which offers calls at 1 paisa per second on all local and STD calls on any network in the country.
With this move, IDEA becomes the first mobile operator to offer the pay per second tariff plan after telecom regulator TRAI suggested earlier this week that per second pulse should be made a mandatory option along with other tariff plans.
In Himachal Pradesh, existing IDEA subscribers can purchase a special voucher priced at Rs 24, whereas new subscribers can get it for Rs 49. In Bihar and Jharkhand, existing IDEA subscribers can purchase this voucher for Rs 8 and new subscribers can get it for Rs 14. Similarly, to avail this tariff plan in Rajasthan existing users will have to pay Rs 24 and new subscribers will have to pay Rs 55 for the Super Seconds one year service.
“This is yet another ‘first from Idea’ to offer world class and affordable telephony services to mobile consumers in the region,” Anish Roy, Chief Operating Officer-Idea circle for Punjab, Himachal Pradesh and Jammu said. The new tariff vouchers will be available at My Idea Showrooms and Idea Points in the regions.
Ed’s Note: Our overworked brains ditched us. Sorry for the goof up, we have added the plans and edited the story accordingly.
When TeleGyaan did an exclusive review of MTNL’s 2G/3G plans, one of our avid readers voiced his opinion and asked us to look at other operators in the landscape. Given the reader-friendly blog we are, here is a post comparing all the GSM – Blackberry plans on offer::
[Read more…] about Exclusive: All (GSM) Blackberry Plans reviewed
Idea Cellular becomes the sixth Indian operator to join the BlackBerry bandwagon on announcement of its tie-up with Canada based Research in Motion (RIM) to offer the latter’s BlackBerry services.
With this launch, Idea plans to facilitate its subscribers with the best technology currently available in the Indian GSM market. An Idea Cellular subscriber can now enjoy services which are at par with other GSM subscribers. “With BlackBerry solution, Idea customers can now stay connected and access information in a timely manner, thus increasing productivity and contributing to a better work-life balance,” said Idea CMO Pradeep Shrivastava.
Blackberry portfolio includes phones like 8700G, 8100/8110, 8310, 8820 and 8900.
BlackBerry smartphones will be available at all Idea stores, modern trade, and multi-brand outlets across 15 circles of Idea Cellular’s network.
Aditya Birla Group led Idea Cellular is all set to enter 5 new circles. These would include West Bengal, Kolkatta, North East, Assam and J&K. With the operator’s services being well appreciated by users across the country, it has set its eyes on these circles. The deadline currently stands at end of 2009. Also, it has rebranded Spice (Taken over by Idea) as Idea Cellular in Punjab and Karnataka, where the former had its presence. Apart from the north, Idea also has its eyes set on Orissa and Tamil Nadu, which would strengthen its presence down under. However, this is planned to happen in the first half of 2010. The moves come after Idea has succeeded in acheiving healthy growth for the recent quarter.
Idea Cellular has collaborated with Taiwan’s premium handset manufacturer HTC Corp to offer two touch phone models in India, namely the HTC Touch Pro and the Touch Viva.
HTC Touch Pro targeted at business class introduces QWERTY keyboard layout that makes typing-intensive tasks like composing email or working on Microsoft Office documents quick and easy. It also features a 2.8-inch display, TouchFLO 3D and built-in TV-Out functionality. HTC Touch Viva on the other hand is an upgrade over the original Touch with GPS and Windows Mobile 6.1 OS.
HTC Touch Pro is priced at Rs. 34,900 whereas Touch Viva will sell at Rs. 16,490 at all Idea stores across the country.
Post acquisition of Spice, Idea Cellular was eyeing new addition of subscribers to the tune of 44 lakhs. However, the revised number of subscribers can be around 34 lakhs as Spice Communications lost around a million customers within the two months. This clean up activity which Spice says was conformed to the reporting standards adopted by Idea Cellular and was carried out to wipe out those customers who have not generated any revenues for the past six months. Such large number of inactive customers will surely make a company ail but analysts claim that with the backing and expertise of Idea, Spice will soon be a profitable venture within the next year.