Idea Cellular has become the latest combatant in the free per day data war that started with Reliance Jio. The operator’s latest plan that costs Rs. 348, and offers unlimited calling with 1GB 4G data per day for 28 days. Previous charts showed that the company was offering only 50MB of data with free voice calling per day. Clearly the move has been a result of high demand of data.
The price of the 50MB data plan has been reduced to RS148 now.
This comes after the network provider’s previous attempt to counter Jio by tying up with Itel. Itel users get 1GB free data per month for the first six months on the Idea network.
Idea’s recent price cuts also includes removing all call and SMS charges on roaming (this was to counter a similar offer by Airtel).
Amid all the data and price battles, there has been talk of Idea’s possible merger with Vodafone.
Recently Jio’s promotional offer ended on 31st March. However, in a new release the company made it clear that if a user pays INR 303 by April 15, the offer can be extended to another year.
Similar to Airtel’s offer of 28GB per month (1GB per day) at a price of Rs. 345, Idea is planning to launch a data pack worth Rs. 346.
On one hand TRAI is going to place its position in front of a tribunal after re-examining issues related to Jio’s free offers, and on the other, rival companies have had their hands forced since before the launch of the domestic network.
This goes to say a lot about a high data consuming demographic in the country. Regardless, this battle seems to reach new highs every day, and the consumers are highly benefiting from this debacle.
