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MUMBAI: IDEA Cellular, the fastest growing mobile operator in the country has announced its entry in the country?s northern most state of Jammu & Kashmir. IDEA?s 2.75G EDGE enabled GSM network will now cover the entire length of the country from Jammu in the North to Chennai in the South.
The Himalayan state of Jammu & Kashmir, with an approximate population of 1.25 crore has a teledensity of 34.46%, which is below the national average. Keeping in mind the mobile communication needs of the people of the state, and to drive usage of mobile telephony services, IDEA Cellular has designed a unique network to cover large population areas and has introduced affordable tariff plans and value added services in J&K.
IDEA?s world class mobile network will be available in Jammu City, Bari Brahmana, Bishnah, Katra, Udhampur, Jammu-Katra Highway at the start of operations, and will progressively grow to cover the major towns in the Kashmir valley as well, before the end of this calendar year. Other major towns in J&K like Srinagar, Lakhanpur, Badgam, Anantnag, Mattan, Kulgam, Pulwama, Shopian, Ganderbal, Patan and Sumbal will be covered soon.
IDEA?s start-up network in J&K will soon be doubled to over 300 cell sites to cover 62 population centres in 14 districts of the state.
With the launch in J&K, the warm yellow IDEA logo, symbolizing strength, vibrancy and vitality, will now cover the whole of North India. IDEA subscribers in the country will now experience seamless network connectivity while traveling from any city in the North to the South. With the soon to be launched operations in the East ? Kolkata & West Bengal, and Assam & North East ? by year end, IDEA will have 100% coverage in the country.
Announcing the launch of operations, Mr. Ambrish Jain, Director ? Operations, IDEA Cellular said, ?IDEA?s innovative and customized products and services, and superior network have enabled us to become the fastest growing mobile operator in the country. Our network and offerings in J&K have been designed keeping in mind the mobile communication needs of the people of this state. IDEA subscribers in the state will experience superior connectivity, whisper clear audio quality and zero call congestion on our network. IDEA will aim to drive penetration in the market enabling larger number of people in the state to gain access to mobile telephony services?.
IDEA will set up a robust customer service and retail network of over 4,500 outlets and IDEA showrooms in the state, by March 2010. Aimed at achieving visibility and real time experience, these customer touch points will significantly enhance IDEA?s distribution network and help reach out to its customers across all segments, and in the deepest interiors of the state.
IDEA is the leader in the introduction of value added services in the Indian mobile telephony market. With the launch of IDEA in J&K, mobile users in the state will now have a rich experience while using value added services such as Music download, Dialer Tones, Voice chat, web-infotainment, high-speed internet Data Card, and other Internet-based multi-media experiences on their EDGE-enabled mobile phones.
IDEA has introduced special voice portal with rich content in the areas of News, Sports, Entertainment, and other regional content in Dogri and Kashmiri languages for its subscribers in J&K.
IDEA has also launched a special tariff plan for its prepaid subscribers in Jammu & Kashmir, offering all Local calls and SMS at just 40 paisa per minute, and STD calls and SMS on any national network at just 60 paisa per minute. The new SIM priced at Rs. 49 comes with a talk time of Rs. 5, and a rolling validity of 3 months.
