[Update – May, 2012] Idea has revised it 3G Packs for all circles in May,2012. To get the Full details either click on 3G Tariff Wars above or visit this page.

Idea Cellular, the country’s third largest mobile operator, today launched its 3G services in Andhra Pradesh & Kerela. With this, the company now provides the service in Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat, HP, Maharashtra, Haryana and UP.

To start with, Idea’s 3G Service in AP would be available in 14 towns including Hyderabad, Vijayawada and Visakhapatnam, with plans to cover 200 towns in the state by the end of the current financial year. And in Kerela 3G services would commence from Kozhikode city, Payyoli, Quilandy, Feroke, Beypore, Malappuram, Kottakkal, Vengara, Parappanangadi, Thrissur, Ollur, Mannuthi, Cherur, Amala Nagar, Triprayar, Kochi city, Fort Kochi, Tripunithara, Kalamassery, Aluva, Alleppey, Cherthala, Adoor, Kottarakara and Punalur and will be extended to cover 175 towns by the middle of this year and over 1,215 towns by the end of 2012.

B Ramakrishna, Chief Operating Officer (Kerala), Idea Cellular said, “The company had introduced time-based billing plan for 3G services enabling users to avail high-end data services without worrying about the volume of usage.”

At the launch in Andhra Pradesh, Mr Ambrish Jain said,”Mobile Data was the next growth area as voice revenue growth was flattening, and 28 per cent of the entire telecom revenues came from broadband globally, which was expected to touch 33 per cent by 2013.” He further added,” Indian data ARPU (average revenue per user) is one of the lowest in the world at $0.03, as against an ARPU of $4 in the developed world. There is a high potential for data ARPU growth, data currently accounted for 4 per cent of Idea’s revenues and its ARPUwas between Rs 170 and Rs 250 depending on the circle.”

Mr. Jain also said,”The company was present in 11 circles now and intended to go pan-India with 3G, including in Jammu and Kashmir and Punjab, through strategic alliances by the end of this financial year.”

“Currently, 10 per cent of our over 89 million subscribers nationally are using 3G-enabled handsets. There will be upgradation of handsets from time to time and we are in talks with mobile manufacturers to launch 3G handsets through combo offers,” he added without specifying any timeline for the same.

Idea’s national 3G footprint will cover 200 towns by this month, growing at a rate of 10 towns per day to cover 750 towns by mid-2011, and 4,000 towns by the end of FY12.

Kerela 3G Tariffs

SACHET BASED

USAGE BASED PREPAID

USAGE BASED POSTPAID

TIME BASED

DATA RATECUTTER PREPAID

DATA RATECUTTER POSTPAID

DONGLE TARIFF – FRC

DONGLE TARIFF PREPAID

DONGLE TARIFF POSTPAID

Andhra Pradesh 3G Tariffs

SACHET BASED

USAGE BASED PREPAID

USAGE BASED POSTPAID

TIME BASED

DATA RATECUTTER PREPAID

DATA RATECUTTER POSTPAID

DONGLE TARIFF – FRC

DONGLE TARIFF PREPAID

DONGLE TARIFF POSTPAID

Also Idea Celular Limited has launched 3G Roaming Tariffs, according to which Incoming Voice Calls in roaming would be charged at Rs 1 per Minute & Incoming Video Calls would be charged at 2 Paise per Second and Outgoing Video Calls would be charged at 5 Paise per Second. All Other Standard Roaming Rates apply.