Idea Cellular has launched its 3G services in Goa covering cities such as Panaji, Mapusa, Margao, Vasco and Ponda.
Apart from the locals, travellers coming into Goa can also opt for Idea’s prepaid 3G SIMs and/or dongles.
With Idea 3G, users can enjoy a host of activities including downloading songs, streaming videos on YouTube, streaming audio, photo updates on Facebook, mail and other online media, movie downloads, watching mobile TV, e-mailing with attachments, blog postings, viewing photos, and Flash and HD Gaming.
Idea 3G users will experience speed upto 21 Mbps on 3G handsets, and higher speed on other devices depending on the device capability.
Idea has also an Application Store, known as IdeaMall, that offers an entire catalogue of games and applications on web and mobile platforms.
Speaking about the 3G launch in Goa, Rajendra Chourasia, chief operating officer, Maharashtra and Goa, Idea Cellular, said: “With the launch of next generation 3G services, locals as well as the visiting tourists can now experience video conferencing, IdeaMall Application Store, mobile TV, video on demand, and high-speed Internet Browsing with ease and convenience of use.”
Idea has set up ‘Experience Kiosks’ to provide a flavour of the services that customers can opt for. These will be available to all users at select ‘My Idea’ stores in these towns.
With this, Idea’s 3G services are now available in nine circles including Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat, Himachal Pradesh, UP West, UP East, Andhra Pradesh, Kerala and Haryana, besides Maharashtra. The teleco has now over one million 3G users in the first of month of launch.
“Idea’s national 3G footprint has already covered 400 towns and is progressively growing at the rate of 10 towns per day to cover 750 towns by mid 2011, and 4,000 towns by the end of FY12,” the teleco said in a press release.
“Currently, 10 per cent of Idea’s subscribers are said to be using 3G enabled handsets. It is expected that these users will be the early adopters of 3G services,” the release further added.
Idea has introduced Time based Billing plan for 3G services enabling users to avail high-end data services without worrying about the volume of usage. To promote usage, Idea has introduced ‘sachet’ pricing offering attractive trial packages with per day billing.