Aircel announces new Pocket Internet plans, taking on Vodafone

Telecom Lead India: Taking on Vodafone’s recent mobile Internet schemes, Aircel announced new Pocket Internet plans.

Aircel, which pioneered cost effective mobile Internet in India, says its new Pocket Internet 24 (PI-24) offers higher validity of 30 days for 100 MB data for Rs 24. The effective cost for Indian mobile users will be Rs 1 per day.

Last week, Vodafone India priced 500MB data schemes at Rs 25 for 2G and Rs 49 for 3G. Available for both postpaid and prepaid mobile customer across the country, the One Time Trial Pack is available with a validity of 7 days and has a limit of 500MB.

Aircel says Pocket Internet 24 will offer adequate data to help familiarize with popular search engine and social networking websites. The customers will be able to download applications, surf net and stay connected with family and friends.

India has the third largest internet users in the world and is rapidly adding 70 million mobile internet users a year.

Anupam Vasudev, chief marketing officer, Aircel, said: “It is ironic that despite this exponential growth, a majority of the Indian population has never experienced internet on their mobile phones. With Pocket Internet 24, we aim to tap this segment and drive internet adoption among first time internet users.”

Pocket Internet 24 is a part of Aircel’s data portfolio which will be available in North East, Jammu & Kashmir, Orissa, Kolkata and Rest of West Bengal, Tamil Nadu and Bihar. The product will be rolled out in rest of the circles on April 24, 2013.

On the other hand, Vodafone India says its objective is to drive mobile internet adoption among non-internet users in India. Vodafone has around 147 million customers across the country.

Recently, Vivek Mathur, chief commercial officer, Vodafone, said: “We have introduced a new category of trial packs to make mobile internet more interesting, less intimidating for them. We see potential in this offer as non-users will be able to discover the benefits of mobile internet and how it can change their lives.”

For Vodafone customers, these trial packs are customized to suit the internet usage pattern and handset types of different customers. For example, if a customer is a 2G mobile internet user and has a 3G handset, he/she will be offered a 3G internet trial pack.

The telecom industry feels that other mobile service providers such as Idea Cellular, Tata Teleservices, Reliance Communications, etc. will follow suit.

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