Vodafone India

   Slashes 2G rates by 80 percent in some circles

Vodafone India has announced an 80 percent price cut in tariff for its data customers – all its prepaid and postpaid customers using 2G network on a "Pay as you Go" basis. The operator claims that the rate cut – 10p/10KB to 2p/10KB – will make Internet access affordable for customers who use mobile Internet in a limited way.

These rates are currently applicable to the operator’s subscribers in Karnataka, UP West and Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh circles and will be rolled out nationally in a phased manner. 

Explaining the rationale behind this Industry first move, Vivek Mathur, Chief Commercial Officer, Vodafone India, said, “The overall internet penetration in India is low while the mobile penetration is very high. Most consumers will discover the power of the internet via the mobile. We, at Vodafone, want to accelerate mobile internet adoption through penetration, consumption and value addition. This 80% reduction in data charges for customers using 2G network is an important step in this direction and we are confident that this move will facilitate faster adoption and better usage.”

Vodafone India had slashed its 3G tariffs last year, after rivals Bharti Airtel and others like Reliance Communications, Idea Cellular and Aircel slashed their 3G tariffs. These data plans start from Rs 25 for 25MB data usage and go up to Rs 1,599 for 12GB of data usage. It stated that for any usage beyond the stipulated data usage on each plan, the customers would be charged at the rate of 2p/10KB.