New cellular ‘Idea’ launched in Delhi

NEW DELHI: Pramod Mahajan, Union Minister for Communications and IT, launched Idea cellular service in Delhi and the NCR. Idea is the fourth entrant in the market after AirTel, Hutch and MTNL, and is India’s first 3G-compatible and Delhi’s only GPRS-enabled network.

Idea is offering five tariff plans including a Zero Rental Plan with incoming and outgoing airtime rates of Rs 0.90 and Rs 1.10 per pulse, on a commitment of Rs 550 per month, along with a host of features like the same SIM card for a simultaneous pre-paid and post-paid connection, GPRS, MMS, M-Coupons and of course national and global roaming options. There are special invitational tariff plans for the first two months.

Addressing the media briefing, Mahajan said, "In India, one child is considered enough. Two is a high number. We would not want a third child, and a fourth is definitely out of the question. But the analogy cannot be used for the cellular space in Delhi, rather we hope that the fourth entrant will live up to the Indian tradition of the youngest child being the brightest."

Addressing the media, Graham Burke, CEO, Idea Cellular Services, informed that the license fee paid to the government was Rs 172 crore, and there would be a 12 percent revenue sharing model as far as Delhi was concerned.

Speaking to CNS, Jayanth Bakshi, Chief Marketing Officer, Idea, said that there are several tie ups happening with various content providers in keeping with the latest ‘content is king’ trend. There are tie-ups with the Times Group, Hindustan Times, Pune-based 3CIT, Phoneytunes, and ITInfinity among others. Idea will also play a prominent role in MTV contests.

Idea is opening 22 company showrooms in Delhi and NCR, branded as "Idea ‘n’ U" as also tying up with some 4,000 retail outlets. Idea has also come up with the 3-Ring Challenge as part of its customer service programs, informed Himanshu Kapania, COO (Delhi Circle), Idea.

Unlike other service providers, Idea subscribers in Delhi will not be led to a automated response on dialing the helpline numbers, but will be connected to dedicated executives on a 24x7x365 model, before the third ring of the phone.

Kishore Chaukar, Director, Idea Cellular Services, said that Idea is in talks with BPL for a probable merger, but nothing has been finalized so far. He added that Idea was open to merger ideas, but would not take any such initiative on its own.