Vodafone India slashes 3G tariffs

4G is slowly making its presence in India, after a hopeful start with first Kolkata and then Bengaluru, recently. Now while it may be some time before the entire nation is dotted by 4G services, 3G continues to grab headlines. After popular telecom service providers, like Bharti Airtel, Reliance Communications, Idea Cellular and Aircel slashed their 3G tariffs, Vodafone India announced the introduction of their new tariffs for 3G data plans for its customers, today. These data plans start from Rs. 25 for 25 MB data usage and go up to Rs. 1,599 for 12GB of data usage. For any usage beyond the stipulated data usage on each plan, the customers will be charged at the rate of 2p/10kb.

Vodafone slashes 3G tariffs in India

The Pay As You Go (PAYG) rate for prepaid customers is being touted by the company as the most competitive and lowest in the market, therefore affordable. At 2p/10kb, Vodafone India claims that it is an 80 percent reduction from the existing rate, thereby making it a plan tailor-made for everyone. Additionally, Vodafone will now allow its customers to use data from their bundle package while on-net roaming across any location in India without any additional charge.

Airtel's lowest costing plan now offers 30 minutes of high speed internet browsing for Rs. 10 against its earlier offering of 10 MB at the same rate. It has raised data download on existing plans. For instance, on a recharge of Rs. 100, prepaid customers will now get 300 MB of data download against their earlier entitlement of 200 MB. 

Airtel's revised 3G plans

Idea Cellular, according to an official statement have now followed suit and have announced a reduction in 3G tariffs by a whopping 70 percent. Idea prepaid & postpaid customers will now pay 3p/10 KB of data, a reduction of 70 percent from the earlier levels of 10p/10KB. 

Idea Cellular's revised 3G tariffs

With Reliance Communications' plan, if the customer uses 2.5GB, then he gets billed for Rs. 250 as rental and Rs. 300 extra usage (at Rs. 0.2/ MB for 1.5GB)— a total bill of Rs. 550. On a 1GB plan from any other operator, this customer would have been billed for Rs.250 as rental and Rs. 4,500 for extra usage (at Rs. 3/ MB for 1.5GB) – a total bill of Rs. 4,750. My Best plan will save the customer Rs.4,200/ month on just 2.5GB usage and saving will be much higher with higher usage. An official statement further adds that Reliance has the strongest unlimited 3G data plan portfolio starting at just Rs. 750/month and is the only operator to offer unlimited 3G data on the prepaid platform.

Reliance Communications' 3G plans

Sanjoy Mukerji, Chief Commercial Officer, Vodafone India was quoted saying at the revise in 3G tariffs, “We, at Vodafone, believe in offering services that add value to the lives of our customers through constant focus on meeting their needs. With the introduction of these plans, we aim at establishing a foundation for providing a 3G data plan for everyone, making it affordable to the masses in the country. Also, users who shy away from trying 3G services due to prohibitive costs can now experience services without the fear of a bill shock. The 2p/10kb PAYG & no additional charges for roaming are the first of its kind in the Indian market. We expect this offer to be well received by the customers as it will act as a strong value proposition for data users.”