CDMA is the lesser popular counterpart of mobile telephony which is losing its charm in the GSM dominated Indian telecom industry. As of today, we have just 3 serious CDMA operators in the country, namely Rcom, DoCoMo and MTS. For the sake of this comparison we are considering only Rcom and Docomo since both these operators offer standalone unified HSD(EvDO) packs for postpaid smartphone users while MTS only offers these HSD packs for the prepaid smartphone platform. Tata Docomo has upgraded its network to EvDO Rev.B Phase 1 (Offering maximum downlink speeds of 6.2Mbps) in some key cities while Rcom has upgraded its network to EvDO Rev.B Phase 2 (Offering maximum downlink speeds of 14.7 Mbps) in some cities.
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Reliance Mobile Internet Pack
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| Mobile Internet Plans | Rental/Month | Benefits/Month | Overage Charges Post Bundle Usage | SMS Code | |||
| 700 MB @ Rs. 49 | Rs. 49 | 700 MB | 20ps/1MB | 700MB@49 | |||
| 1.5 GB @ Rs. 94 | Rs. 94 | 1.5 GB | 20ps/1MB | 1.5GB@94 | |||
| 2 GB @ Rs. 123 | Rs. 123 | 2 GB | 10ps/1MB | 2GB@123 | |||
| 5 GB @ Rs. 246 | Rs. 246 | 5 GB | 10ps/1MB | 5GB@246 | |||
| Mobile Internet Pack @ 3G like Speed on CDMA - High Speed Data (HSD) network. | |||||||
Reliance offers the lowest high-speed mobile data tariffs in the market currently, its postpaid data plans begin from as low as Rs. 49 for 700MB with 30 days validity and an overage charge of just 20p/MB. Towards the higher side it offers 5GB high-speed data for Rs.246 (In comparison GSM operators like Airtel and Vodafone offer 1GB 3G data for the same price) with 30 days validity and overage charges as low as 10p/MB which means even if you were to cross the free data allotted you would still be paying approximately Rs.100 per additional GB used which is pretty standard by industry norms.
Tata Docomo postpaid data packs
| Rental (Rs.) | Pack Name | Benefit |
| 100 | CMO HSIA 256MB Pack | 256MB worth data free for HSIA |
| 300 | CMO HSIA 1GB Pack | 1GB worth data free for HSIA |
| 500 | CMO HSIA 2GB Pack | 2GB worth data free for HSIA |
| 950 | CMO HSIA 5GB Pack | 5GB worth data free for HSIA |
| 1000 | CMO HSIA 10GB Pack | 10GB worth data free for HSIA |
| 1500 | CMO HSIA 15GB Pack | 15GB worth data free for HSIA |
The lowest denomination of HSD pack offered by Docomo is Rs.100 offering 256MB with 30 days validity. This means the pack is double the price of Rcom’s lowest denomination pack of Rs.49 and offers around 1/3 the data as Rcom. The 5GB pack by DoCoMo costs Rs.950 with 30 days validity while the same 5GB pack by Rcom costs Rs.246 with 30 days validity which means Docomo’s pack is nearly 4 times costlier than Rcom. Also, note that the overage charges of Docomo post free bundled usage are 50p/MB which translates to Rs.500 per additional GB used.
Verdict:
From the comparison, it is evident that Rcom offers way cheaper tariffs as compared to Docomo when it comes to postpaid high-speed data packs for smartphones. Apart from the free bundled usage, Rcom also offers much lower overage charges of 10 and 20p/MB as compared to Docomo who charges 50p/MB. Rcom has CDMA 800MHz spectrum in all 22 circles while Docomo has it in 19 circles and has the roaming agreement with Rcom in the remaining 3 circles. Rcom’s Rev.B network offers peak speeds of up to 14.7 Mbps as opposed to 6.2 Mbps offered by Tata Docomo. Rcom allows tethering of your EvDO handset to your PC or laptop over WiFi or USB without charging extra while doing the same with Docomo EvDO plans meant for smartphone will lead to forfeiting of the entire data. Rcom’s policies regarding registration of imported nonsim EvDO handsets on its CDMA network are much more favorable than those of Docomo. So overall it seems that Rcom gives a better deal in this regard.
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