Idea follows Airtel, cuts 3G rates by 70%

Bharti Airtel's surprise move to slash rates of its 3G services, Aditya Birla group company Idea Cellular today brought down its 3G tariffs by up to 70%.

The company decided to cut 3G tariffs to widen the new-age offering by making it accessible to one and all, it said in a statement here.

Under the new plan, Idea's pre-paid and post-paid customers will pay three paise for 10 KB of data, a reduction of 70% from the earlier levels of 10 paise, it said.

According to the statement, Idea's 3G services are offered in 3,207 towns across the country and it has 2.7 million active users with an average usage of 330 MB per month.

Additionally, to cater to different consumer segments, Idea has launched its new pricing in sachet packs, regular packs and unlimited packs, it said.

The lowest of the sachets will be sold for Rs 10 and offer 30 minutes of high speed internet surfing on 3G enabled handsets.

The move by Idea comes within a week of a similar announcement made by the largest mobile operator Airtel which cut tariffs by up to 70%.