After Bharti Airtel, Idea Cellular now joins the free incoming calls while on domestic roaming bandwagon in the country. Idea, with over 200 million subscribers is the third largest telecom operator in India. And the latest move from the telco comes as a radical change to its subscribers who tend to travel a lot. Speaking of traveling, Idea has also unveiled a range of International Roaming value packs for folks who travel to popular destinations overseas to avoid “bill shocks.”
Starting 1st April 2017, Idea will offer ‘Free incoming calls’ to all its customers roaming on telco’s 2G, 3G and 4G network across 400,000 towns and villages in the country. Idea is extending the free incoming calls on domestic roaming to all its Prepaid and Postpaid customers.
Idea customers will be able to make outgoing calls, send SMS at affordable rates while roaming anywhere in India. In addition, mobile data tariffs and data pack benefits of home circle will be available while roaming anywhere in India, that too without any extra charge.
For international travelers, there are a wide range of International Roaming value packs available now to choose from. These value packs include free bundled usage of up to 400 outgoing minutes, 100 SMS per day, large data volume and unlimited incoming calls. They also come bundled with free 1GB/2GB/3GB data and overage charges as low as Rs. 3/MB to avoid bill shock to traveling customers. Users can choose either a 10-day pack or 30-day pack for short leisure travel or for continuous business trips or long stay.
Idea has revealed that it has done extensive study of customer’s travel destinations, usage patterns and bill shock complaints to design a new range of value packs for handpicked destinations across Europe (15 countries), Asia (9 countries), America (USA + Canada), UK (UK + Ireland) and Middle East (UAE).
For value conscious customers, the International Roaming packs start at Rs. 1,199 for 10 days validity and go up to Rs. 5,999 for 30 days validity, giving up to 85% savings on International Roaming charges.
Mr. Sashi Shankar, Chief Marketing Officer, Idea Cellular said, “Backed by a pan-India mobile GSM & wireless broadband network with coverage spanning 400,000 towns and villages, Idea is now set to enable over 200 million customers to use their mobile phones freely, without having to worry about roaming charges, while they travel anywhere in the country. While incoming calls will be free, customers will also be able to enjoy Outgoing calls, SMS and Data services at affordable rates, starting 1st April.”
“The International Roaming packs are designed keeping in mind the travel trends of Indians going abroad, as well as their wireless data usage requirements, whether traveling for work or leisure,” he added.