Vodafone was the first operator in the country to announce reduction in 2G data rates for the Pay as you Go (PAYG) users by 80%, back in June. It rolled out the new rates in select circles such as Karnataka, UP West and Madhya Pradesh & Chhattisgarh as a pilot launch and announced that it would be rolled out in other circles across India in a phased manner. Now the company has announced the new rates would roll out for all pre-paid and post-paid customers on 2G on a ‘Pay as you Go’ basis across its circles in India from November 1, 2013.
The charges are down to 2p/10KB from the previous rate of 10p/10KB. Additionally, when a Mobile Internet customer roams anywhere in India on Vodafone, they are charged like home rates for Mobile Internet. Soon after Vodafone’s move to cut 2G data rates, other operators such as Airtel, Idea and Videocon announced similar offers.
Regarding the rate cut, Vivek Mathur, Chief Commercial Officer, Vodafone India said,
This 80% reduction in Mobile Internet charges for customers using 2G is an important step in our strategy to drive mobile internet and we are confident that this move will facilitate in faster adoption and better usage.
Vodafone says that they are educating current and potential users about how internet can add significant value to them and also building content partnerships, simplifying pricing, educating retailers and offering choice to customer basis their interests and consumption patterns.