Vodafone India says 2G tariff may be hiked to be in line with 3G plans

Betting big on 3G adoption with increasing penetration of smartphone users, Vodafone has said the 2G and 3G tariffs will converge in near future, although there is little scope for further cut in 3G rates.   As per the company, when it launched 3G services in 2010-11, the 3G tariffs were 6-7 times higher than 2G but this difference has now been reduced to just 1.5 times.  “We brought down the 3G data prices around four months back and we except 2G and 3G prices will converge in near future,” Vodafone India Business Head (Delhi) Subrat Padhi said.   He said the convergence will take place either by an increase in 2G rates or decrease in 3G rates while asserting that there is little scope for further cut in data rates. “The data prices in India are already one of the lowest in the world,” he said.   Taking the lead to reach out to the smartphone users in Delhi and National Capital Region (NCR), the company today launched ‘Be Smart’ mobile Internet initiative, which is focussed at tapping non-3G users. The company has around 92 lakh users in Delhi and NCR and only around 1/8 of them use 3G currently.   The 3G data users are growing at over 100 percent on year on year basis. “A visible spurt in the demand for smartphones indicates a growing need for high speed connectivity. Basis our insights, we feel there is tremendous potential for customers using latest technology enabled handsets to adopt 3G on their phones to get the best experience,” Padhi said.   The company, which has around 25.7 percent revenue market share in Delhi and NCR, has over 4,000 3G sites in the region.   PTI