Following Vodafone and Bharti Airtel rate cuts, Idea Cellular on Thursday announced that it had reduced 2G data tariff to two paise (Re.0.02) per 10 KB from the existing two paise per KB in eight circles across the country, reports said.
Starting July 1, the new rates will be valid for 90 days. As of March 31, 2013, Idea Cellular had 21.57 million data users, up from 18.9 million during the previous quarter. Of this, 4.1 million are 3G customers. Data subscribers contribute about 5.7 percent of Idea Cellular's service revenue annually.
On Tuesday, Vodafone had reduced 2G data rates in three operating circles from 10 paise to two paise for 10KB, followed by Bharti Airtel which cut data tariffs in two circles on Tuesday to one paise from 10 paise per 10 KB. However, all the telcos had increased data prices by around 25 percent in January.
Vodafone has 37.3 million data users in India, of which 3.3 million are 3G subscribers as of March 31, 2013. During the quarter ended March 31, 2013, its data revenue increased 50.5 percent to Rs.2,000 crore, which is seven percent of its overall revenue
Bharti Airtel, India's largest telco by subscriber base, has 43 million data users, of which six million are 3G subscribers. Its data subscribers rose 22 percent during the quarter and its data revenue per user increased 25 percent. It gets around seven percent of total revenue from data.
Idea Cellular Deputy Managing Director Ambrish Jain said, "Idea has continuously focused at growing data penetration in tier-II & tier-III markets. These eight circles comprise of one third 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 revised tariff is applicable for all 2G data users who use on pay-as-you-go basis, and also on overage on the regular data packs.
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