On Tuesday, Idea cellular which is an Aditya Birla Group firm, joined hands with other telecom operators to slash data prices before commercial launch of Reliance Jio’s 4G services. With the aim of cutting 4G/3G data prices by up to 50 per cent the firm announced two new data packs. An Idea subscriber enjoys 1GB of night data at INR 125 per month. This helps them save almost 50% of their usual cost.
It is the third largest national mobile operator. They launched a day and night twin pack that gives 30% discount on data. They have introduced their data pack starting at INR 115 only for 500MB that is 250 MB day and night each month and goes up to 40 GB that is 20 GB day and 20 GB night. All Idea subscribers across the company’s 3G and 4G circles can avail both the offers. Idea’s decision to slash data charges took place soon after Anil Ambani-promoted Reliance Communications’ campaign to lure its CDMA customers to 4G platform.
Analysts say the recent cuts in data charges is the result of the imminent launch of Reliance Jio Infocomm’s 4G services. Mukesh Ambani who is a billionaire promoted Reliance Jio and threw open its services to public on experimental basis though it has not yet launched its pan India mobile services. All those consumers who get an invitation from an employee of Reliance Industries group firm will get a Reliance Jio SIM. A Bloomberg report states that Reliance Jio is charging 88 per cent less than their competitors for basic prepaid data services.The report also says that Jio has made data available at 0.5 paisa per 10 kilobytes, in comparison with 4 paisa per 10 kilobytes.