Telecom network operator Idea Cellular said its prepaid consumers and retailers can gift free 100 MB data for accessing Internet for a month to Internet non-users from their smartphones.
Idea Cellular’s pre-paid users need to log on to http://i4all.ideacellular.com to join the “Internet For All” program. Idea Cellular has 175 million mobile subscribers and majority is pre-paid subscribers in India.
Idea Cellular, a leading player in the Indian mobile Internet market, personalizes this service by sending periodic information on how to use free data to the non-data user and providing various ways to latch onto the internet. The notifications are sent to the initiator on the progress of mobile internet usage made by the person nominated by them. Idea Cellular credits 100MB of data to the initiator’s account.
Sashi Shankar, chief marketing officer of Idea Cellular, said:“Currently 25 percent of India’s population are connected to the internet. Accelerating mobile internet adoption is huge task and requires larger participation.”
Idea users can log on to http://i4all.ideacellular.com from their prepaid connection or retailer VTOP to gift data to a non-internet user. Mobile customers can also avail the service by dialing *756# or sending SMS IFA to 56756.
With 2G operations and 3G and 4G services in 17 telecom circles, Idea Cellular has the capability to provide mobile broadband to nearly 880 million Indians.
Since Idea Cellular does not have a strong presence in the 4G LTE market, the Aditya Birla group company needs to bring data revenue from 2G and 3G networks. It is expected that Reliance Jio Infocomm will become a leader in the Indian mobile internet space competing with Bharti Airtel, the largest telecom operator in India.
Idea Cellular’s limited 4G presence is not adding strong revenue streams. Because Reliance Jio and Bharti Airtel are making additional investment in the 4G space, Idea Cellular and Vodafone will be forced to look for fresh marketing strategies to gain share from 2G and 3G subscribers.
