3G price war begins: After Airtel, Idea and Voda slash tariffs

In what can be termed as a Catch-22 situation, mobile operators Vodafone India and Idea Cellular have slashed their 3G tariffs after Bharti Airtel cut its tariffs by around 70 percent last week. Telcos not only need to lower tariffs to popularise 3G, they also have to join the 4G race. Moreover the companies are in a tight spot because they actually need to raise tariffs, instead of cutting prices, in order make up for the hefty sum they paid to acquire 3G spectrum.

[caption id=“attachment_318214” align=“alignleft” width=“380” caption=“Reuters”]  [/caption]

While Idea slashed its tariffs on its gold standard 3G services by up to 70 percent and introduced ’try and buy’ sachet packs at Rs.10 and Rs.25, Vodafone, pruned monthly rentals on its 3G promo packs by 33 percent in a bid to drive market penetration and shore up revenues, said an Economic Times report today.

More from Business

Hyundai India’s Rs 27,870 crore IPO oversubscribed by 2.28X, largely driven by institutional investors How Indian fintech startups are driving Malaysia’s UPI-like digital payments revolution

The services which were launched across the country last year have failed to pick up so far, due to high prices. Industry experts see this price war in 3G tariffs as an effort to cash on the huge investments that have been made by telcos, besides driving customers loyalty.

Vodafone is also going to revise other 3G tariff on the lines of Airtel’s new 3G tariff rates. Vodafone will be offering 3G for as low as Rs 20 for 25MB and a weekly package of Rs. 44 for 150MB. As far as monthly 3G tariff rates are concerned, Vodafone will be offering packs ranging from Rs. 102 to Rs. 451. The operator offers a pack of Rs. 1,501 for 10GB of 3G data for a 30 days.

“Idea prepaid and postpaid customers will now pay 3 paise per 10 KB of data, a reduction of 70 percent from the earlier levels of 10 paise per 10 KB,” the company said in a statement.

Impact Shorts

More Shorts

Tata Harrier EV vs Mahindra XEV 9e: Design and road presence compared

As Trump weaponises tariff, Fed sees a bigger worry: Not jobs, but rising prices in America

“The new tariff plan aims to make internet usage within the reach of rural, mid town customers at home and will help first time users to experience the benefits of 3G. Idea’s objective is to drive mobile internet usage for the mass market,” it added.

There will be three offerings for the customers- sachet packs, regular packs and unlimited packs. The Rs.10 sachet pack will offer 30 minutes of high speed internet surfing while the Rs.25 pack - HERO-25-will offer 100 MB data with 3 days validity.

“Our new sachet packs of Rs.10 and HERO-25 are aimed at youngsters who will access high speed internet on-the-go without worrying about the expense,” said Sashi Shankar, chief marketing officer, Idea Cellular.

For regular home users, Idea offers 1GB of data download at Rs.250. For corporates, Idea has unlimited plan priced at Rs.950. Idea has 2.7 million active 3G users with average usage of 330 MB per month.

With inputs from IANS.