Vodafone India just outed the Rs. 199 prepaid tariff plan to counter Reliance Jio's Rs. 149 plan. Now Airtel and Idea Cellular are following suit, and are ready with their counter offer, but the goodies are different.
Airtel's latest pack for its prepaid customers is priced at Rs. 198 and comes with only data benefits and no unlimited voice calls. The plan offers 1GB data per day for 28 days for a total 28GB data. It can be availed from MyAirtel App, under the 'Best Offers For You' section. Do note that this plan is currently available for Airtel's customers in Andhra Pradesh & Telangana telecom circles, but is likely to roll out to other circles as well in the coming days.
In case you're looking for voice/data combo plan, Airtel is having a pack of Rs. 199, which offers unlimited local & STD voice calls and only 1GB data for 28 days.
Talking about Idea Cellular's prepaid plan, it is priced at Rs. 197, and has the same benefits as Airtel. It offers 1GB data per day for 28 days. This means you're getting 28GB data per month, which you can consume 1GB per day. Sadly there's no voice calling bundled with this plan as well. Again if you want to opt for a voice/data combo plan, there's Rs. 199 pack that offers 1GB data and unlimited voice calls for 28 days.
Idea's Rs. 197 plan as of now is available in Kerala and Andhra Pradesh & Telangana circle, and Idea is informing eligible customers about the plan via SMS. As an added benefit, if you recharge the Rs. 197 plan using Idea's app, you'll get an additional 1GB of data for the same period of 28 days totaling to 2GB.
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After taking the telecom industry by storm by offering enticing data & calls offers to customers, Reliance Jio has also managed to create a stir for telecom operators to focus on affordable 4G smartphones.
To remind you, Airtel recently launched an entry-level 4G smartphone to take on JioPhone in partnership with Karbonn called A40 Indian at an effective price of Rs. 1,399 (plus 1,500 deposit).
Now Vodafone and Idea Cellular are following suit and are reportedly working on bringing ultra-affordable 4G smartphones to market to compete with Jio and Airtel.
Economic Times citing sources reports that Vodafone and Idea are in talks with domestic handset maker Lava and Karbonn to release smartphones, that will have an effective price of around or less than Rs. 1,500. The deal is said to get finalized before Diwali. Notably, Vodafone is already in partnership with itel, to offer the latter's customers talk time benefits.
Even though, Vodafone and Idea Cellular's handset's cost is said to be around Rs. 1,500, we can expect the telecos to charge extra towards security deposit, just like Airtel and Jio. That said, similar to Airtel and Jio, Vodafone/Idea will offer buyers enticing calling and data offers for customers.
The aim here is to capture the 500 million user base, who do not use smartphones by providing low cost affordable 4G handset and bundle them with attractive data and calling offers.
Meanwhile, Idea and Vodafone are also in the process of a mega-merger to create the country’s largest telecom operator.
Telecom operators Airtel and Idea Cellular back are back with an another tariff plan to compete with Reliance Jio and attract new customers.
Airtel and Idea's new FRC 495 plan (first recharge cupon) offers unlimited voice calls and 1GB data per day for 84 days. However, the voice calls are limited to just 300 minutes per day and 1,200 minutes per week. The offer is available only for new users, and the price of the pack may vary from telecom circle to circle.
For comparison, to join Reliance Jio, one must shell out Rs. 498 (Rs. 399 tariff plan + Rs.99 JioPrime subscription charge). Jio also offers unlimited data with 1GB FUP per day for 84 days. But, unlike Airtel and Idea, Jio's plan offers unlimited voice calls with no limit.
Just few days back, Airtel and Idea announced tariff plans for Rs. 199, under which customers get 1GB data and unlimited voice calls for 28 days. These plans are aimed at Jio's Rs. 149 plan which comes with 2GB data and unlimited calls for 28 days.
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Idea Cellular is another Indian telecom operator that has been adversely affected by Reliance Jio's aggressive pricing strategy. In recent times, the telecom operator been losing subscribers, and one of the reason is that it is not launching new tariff plans to attract its customers, while other telecos are playing catch up with Jio.
However, now it is out with Rs. 198 plan to compete with Jio's 149 plan, and Airtel's recently launched 199 plan. It also announced Rs. 357 plan as well.
Just like Airtel and Jio, Idea's Rs. 198 plan offers only 1GB of 4G/3G/2GB data and unlimited voice calls for 28 days. The Rs. 357 plan on the other hand offers unlimited voice calls, and 1GB data per day (total 28GB data) for 28 days.
Even though Idea says the voice calls is unlimited, they are capped at 300 minutes per day and 1200 minutes per week. Also the plans are valid for Idea's 4G, 2G and 3G customers, which means, 4G customers can enjoy 4G data speed, and likewise, 2G/3G customers can enjoy data speeds at 2G and 3G respectively.
It's worth mentioning that these plans are also available for new Idea customers as well. But they will have to shell out Rs. 178 and Rs. 338.
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Earlier this month, Reliance Jio introduced JioPhone, a 4G VoLTE enabled feature phone. And now it seems that Idea Cellular is also coming out with a similar handset.
According to a report from PTI, Idea Cellular is working on a 4G feature phone to compete against the JioPhone. The teleco is said to be working with other handset companies to launch 4G supported feature phone.
The handset will reportedly have dual-SIM slots, and will give users the choice of dual-SIM, selection of 2G and 4G networks, and will also allow which operator's network to choose. Users will also be able to access application of their choice such as Google, Facebook and WhatsApp. These features are missing in JioPhone.
For
reference, Jio Phone costs Rs. 1,500, that's refundable after three
years, and the usage is limited to Jio's network, and dosen't support
dual-SIMs, and WhatsApp.
The report adds that Idea Cellular's 4G enable feature phone will be priced around Rs. 2,500. The teleco will also do extensive market research on the number of feature that can be excluded to make it more affordable. A launch date is still unknown.
The tariff war has gone to the next level after Reliance Jio announced Dhan Dhana Dhan offer. The country's leading telecom operators have started responding to Jio's offer and first one to do so was Airtel, which offered 70GB data per day (with unlimited calls) at just Rs. 244 for 70 days.
Now according to TelecomTalk, Idea Cellular will also roll out two new plans of Rs. 297 and Rs. 447 with ifs and buts for segmented prepaid users in coming days to counter Jio.
The Rs. 297 plan will offer 1GB of 4G data per day for 70 days (total 70GB) along with unlimied Idea-to-Idea local and STD calls. However, Idea will limit the voice calls to 300 minutes per days, and 1200 minutes per week. After the daily FUP (fair usage policy), users will be charged at 30p/minute.
The Rs. 447 will also give 1GB of 4G data per day for 70 days, but it will provide unlimited calls to any network across the country. This plan will also have limitation. The voice calls will be limited to just 3000 minutes for 70 days, and post exhaustion, subscribers will be charged at 30p/minute. This is a bit disappointing as other telecos are offering unlimited calls to any network without FUP.
It's also worth mentioning that, for a user to be eligible for the offer, should have 4G handset and 4G Idea SIM card, otherwise the recharge will fail.
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Idea Cellular has launched a new promotional data plan for its postpaid subscriber, under which it is offering 1GB data per day for a month for its 4G handset users.
The free 1GB data per day is available for all Idea postpaid subscribers on limited rental plan of Rs. 199 and above. The new postpaid data pack is priced at Rs. 300 per month, and is discounted for the first three months of subscription.
Idea postpaid subscribers with base rental plan between Rs. 199 and Rs. 349, can get the free 1GB data per day for Rs. 200. Users on rental plans between Rs. 349 and Rs. 498 can get the pack at just Rs. 50. Those who are on rental plans of above Rs. 499 will get the 1GB per day data pack for free. After the first three months is over, users will have to pay Rs. 300 per month to avail the plan.
Also, Idea postpaid subscribers can avail the 1GB/day pack till April 30, 2017, and the monthly rental pack will be valid till March 31 2018. The data benefit of 1GB / day is available on 4G handset only, and 3GB/month for non-4G handset users.
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Back in January 2017, Vodafone India confirmed that it was in merger talks with Aditya Birla Group's telecom arm Idea Celluar. Today Idea Cellular's board has given the green signal for the merger with Vodafone India and its wholly owned subsidiary Vodafone India Mobile services (VMSL).
The combined entity will create the country's largest telecom entity taking 43 percent share of the market with around 400 million subscribers, surpassing Bharti Airtel. Prior to the merger, Vodafone and Idea Cellular were the second and third largest telecom players in the country respectively, while Bharti Airtel was sitting on the top.
According to the press release, Vodafone India will own 45.1 percent in the combined entity after transferring a stake of 4.9 percent to the promoters of the Idea Cellular for Rs. 38.74 billion in cash after the completion of the merger. The Promoters of Idea Group will have 26 percent market share in the entity, while the balance 28.9 percent will be owned by the public.
Once the deal is through, the entire business of VIL and VMSL, excluding VIL’s investment in Indus Towers, international network assets and IT platforms, will vest in Idea. Aditya Birla Group chairman Kumar Mangalam Birla will become the chairman of the new entity.
The merger is expected to be completed in 2018 and the transactions is subject to necessary approvals from concerned authorities, which include shareholders, creditors, SEBI, Stock Exchanges, the Competition Commission of India, the Department of Telecommunications (DoT), the Foreign Investment Promotion Board, the Reserve Bank of India and other governmental authorities.
Telecom operator Idea Cellular has announced that incoming calls while roaming nationally will be free for all its subscribers starting April 1. However, outgoing calls, SMS will be charged at affordable rates.
It also added that mobile data tariffs and data pack benefits would not be charged extra while roaming anywhere within the country, and will remain same as a subscriber's home circle. The facility of free incoming calls on domestic roaming will be extended to both prepaid and and postpaid subscribers.
Idea
Cellular's announcement comes soon after rival Bharti Airtel removed
all roaming charges for outgoing and incoming calls, as well as SMSes
and data usage within the country.
Apart from this, Idea also announced international roaming packs starting at Rs. 1,199 with 10 days validity and go up to Rs. 5,999 with 30 days validity for those traveling abroad. The international roaming packs come bundled with up to 400 outgoing minutes, unlimited incoming calls, 100 SMSes per day and up to 3GB data with overage charges as low as Rs. 3 per MB.
These pack cover regions like Asia, UAE, Europe, UK & Ireland and USA & Canada. Idea says the international packs offers up to 85 percent savings on international roaming charges.
Last month Reliance Jio announced Jio Prime Membership, under which Jio users have to pay a one-time enrollment fee of Rs. 99, than Rs. 303 per month from April 2017 to continue enjoying Happy New Year offer (unlimited mobile browsing w/ FUP of 1GB per day, unlimited voice and video calls, 100 SMS/ day and access to Jio's premium suite of apps) for another year (till 31, March, 2018).
Now as countermeasures, India's leading telecos, Airtel, Idea and Vodafone, are launching special plans for their subscribers, somewhat similar to what Jio Prime Membership offers.
Airtel is offering two packs of Rs. 145 and Rs. 343 (up to 349). The Rs. 145 pack offers 2GB data per month plus unlimited local and national calls. The Rs. 344 packs gives Airtel subscribers 1GB data per day (500MB during day + 500MB between 3am and 5am) with unlimited calls to any network. Airel says, the offer is valid only till March 31, and those who recharge will get the same benefits for the next 12 months.
Vodafone's new plan is priced at Rs. 346/342 (up to Rs. 349), and offers 1GB of 3G or 4G data every day (28GB total), along with unlimited free calls. Once the pack is recharged, the tariff will be available for Vodafone customers for one year, for the same monthly recharge of Rs. 346.
Upon first recharge, Vodafone users will get double data (28 x 2 = 56GB) with 1GB FUP per day plus unlimited free calls with double validity of 56 days. The offer will be valid till March 15, meaning after the said date, the plan will not be available.
Priced at Rs. 348 per month, Idea Cellular's new plan offers unlimited voice calls on any network and 500MB of 4G data every day. The packs comes with a validity of 28 days. Unfortunately not all Idea's subscribers will be able to take advantage of this plan, as Idea says, the pack is being offered to those subscribers who don't consume data much.
It's worth mentioning that all these offer are available only for select customers and not to all.
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