Aiming for data penetration Idea Cellular too, the third largest mobile operator in India has jumped into fray after Vodafone and Airtel went for a whopping reduction in the 2G data charges by 80% and 90% respectively in the last two days. Following the suit Idea lowered the 2G data tariff by 90% in 8 circles.
 
These eight circles are- Tamil Nadu & Chennai, Karnataka, Kolkata, West Bengal, Assam, North East, Bihar, and Orissa. Its prepaid and postpaid subscribers can use data at just 2 paise/10 KB from July 1. The new tariff will have the validity of 90 days. Currently the company is offering tariff of 2 paise/KB.

A day after Bharti Airtel too lowered its data usage charges by 90% in Punjab and Haryana.

Idea believes that the reduction in 2G data tariff would give a huge impetus to the mobile data growth in the country with company continuously focusing on Tier 2 & 3 markets.
 
Ambrish Jain, Deputy Managing Director, Idea Cellular said that these 8 circles comprise of 1/3rd of the total mobile users in India, with a large number of users waiting to board the mobile broadband wagon. Availability of data at such affordable rates will usher in a new wave of mobile data growth in the country.”
 
The company is also betting on growth in Mobile communication with onset of monsoon. As  Lakshminarayana, COO–Corporate, Idea Cellular puts it, “Idea’s new data tariff starting July 1st will continue for the entire duration of the season enabling users to explore the world of internet, gaming and social networking.”

Airtel said that the volume based charges (VBC) on its recharge vouchers for 2G data usage of three denominations had been reduced to 1 paisa from 10 paise per 10 KB.  The recharge vouchers of Rs.22, Rs.25 and Rs.125 carry a free download limit of 125 MB for five days, 150 MB for seven days and 1 GB for 28 days.
 
It said that after the free download, the customers were now charged at 10 paise per 10 KB, which have been reduced to 1 paisa per 10 KB with immediate effect.
 
Vodafone’s new rate would be applicable for all pre-paid and post-paid customers using 2G network on a ‘Pay as you Go’ basis in Karnataka, UP West and MPCG and will be rolled out nationally in phased manner.
 
It is now clear that telecom operators are now focusing on mobile penetration which has seen a huge upswing in the country. The internet penetration presently is very low and this is the area the companies are betting on to improve ARPU by fossing on rural and semi urban regions of the countries.

Others like Aircel too has introduced Pocket Internet pack for Rs 23 to drive internet adoption among first-time internet users while MTS India, is betting on data via mobile providing innovative data offerings to tier-I, II and rural user base.

The mobile subscriber base in India has shown upward trend after several months. It increased from 861.66 million in February 2013 to 867.80 million at the end of March 2013, registering a monthly growth of 0.71%, according data released by TRAI.
 
The share of urban mobile subscribers has increased from 60.50% to 60.53% where as share of rural wireless subscribers has decreased from 39.50% to 39.47%. The overall wireless Teledensity in India has reached 70.85.

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