Videocon cuts GPRS rate by 90%

Joining the bandwagon, Videocon Mobile Services has slashed its 2G data rates by 90 percent for its subscribers across the Punjab, Haryana, Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh telecom circles, the company said in a statement here Thursday.“According to the new tariff, once the subscribers exhaust their free 2G Data Pack quota, they can continue to access high speed mobile internet by just paying 1 paise per 10kb, thereby enjoying a huge 90 percent discount,” the statement said.“In line with the brand’s pioneering positioning in providing value-for-money services, this 90 percent tariff reduction will help increase data penetration across segments, which will translate into stronger benefits for the brand and will help us engage more subscribers in coming times,” Arvind Bali, Director and chief executive officer of Videocon Mobile Services said.Earlier, Vodafone, Airtel, Idea Cellular and Tata Docomo had drastically slashed their data charges.The company has slashed its GPRS rates by 90 per cent across the telecom circles of Punjab, Haryana, Gujarat, and Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh, it said in a statement today. This strategic move will accelerate mobile internet adoption and data penetration across the telecom circles for Videocon Mobile Services, it said. The new data tariff will be applicable from this month. "Videocon Mobile Services is known to offer the best value-for-money products at a price which is nearly 25 per cent lower than the market rate ... the brand seeks to pass on the advantage of the data price revision across the dynamic telecom circles it is present in," company's director and CEO Arvind Balisaid. The 90 per cent tariff reduction will help increase data penetration across segments. It will translate into stronger benefits for the brand and help engage more subscribers in the coming times, he added. At the end of April 2013, it had 2.13 million users in the country, according to data from Telecom Regulatory Authority of India.

With telecom companies fearing that they would have to shut down 3G in certain circles because of a telecom department ban on offering 3G in circles without licenses, companies have started slashing 2G rates to retain data customers.In April, The Delhi High court has vacated a stay order which permitted Airtel to operate 3G services in circles where it does not have spectrum license. In places like Gujarat, Maharashtra, Goa and Kolkata, Airtel offers 3G services through agreements with rival Vodafone. However, with the stay order out of the way, Airtel may have to stop offering 3G services in these circles.Other operators use similar arrangements to offer 3G in circles they don’t have license for.

Vodafone follows Airtel and Idea to offer free roaming

Country's second largest telecom player Vodafone on Thursday launched Rs 5-per-day scheme offering free incoming calls, cheaper outgoing calls and SMS rates during national roaming. The announcement by Vodafone follows the launch of similar schemes by rivals Airtel and Idea as i had reported earlier here . "With these new roaming plans we aim to offer a hassle-free roaming experience to our customers," Vodafone India's Chief Commercial Officer Vivek Mathur said in a statement. The recent announcements from telecom companies have come following telecom regulator TRAI's direction last month to offer consumers option of discounted roaming plans. Videocon, however, had announced free incoming calls for its customers on roaming as early as March. Vodafone launched a Special Tariff Vouchers (STV), on lines of plan launched by Bharti Airtel, costing Rs 5 per day to its pre-paid customers to make their incoming calls free while they are on roaming. Vodafone will charge 1.5 paise per second for outgoing call under this daily plan. The company said it also offers a monthly plan which provides free incoming calls on roaming starting from Rs 71 for its pre-paid customers and Rs 75 for its post-paid customers. Airtel had launched similar monthly plan at a price of Rs 79. In addition to these plans, Vodafone also launched two new roaming plans, Roaming Tariff Plan (RTP) and Roaming Tariff Plan Free (RTP FR), for both pre-paid and post-paid customers. RTP users will get incoming calls at reduced rates while incoming calls will be free for subscribers of RTP FR."The price point for the RTP-FR for pre-paid customers starts from Rs 196 and varies by state and Rs 149 for its post-paid customers," the statement said.Idea Cellular has two vouchers in the price range of Rs 230 to Rs 240 and Rs 35 to Rs 40. Under the first set of vouchers, the company is offering free incoming call option.On the low-priced voucher, subscribers will get incoming calls for at reduced rate of 75 paise per minute. Both these vouchers, once purchased, will be offer the benefits for 6 months.