Idea Cellular Announces Resumption of 3G Services in 10 Circles

It will enable over 25 percent of its base of 13.7 crore subscribers to experience high speed 3G Internet services on their mobile devices. Another private telecom operator, Airtel, had resumed 3G services last Sunday following the companies winning their case against the government ban on intra-circle roaming at the telecom tribunal last week.

Airtel, Vodafone and Idea Cellular had approached TDSAT against Department of Telecom order to stop 3G intra-circle roaming agreement under which they had also agreed to acquire customers in area where they did not win spectrum.

After the resumption of Idea Cellular's 3G services, both prepaid and postpaid Idea customers in Delhi, Mumbai, Rajasthan, Karnataka, Kolkata, Bengal, Tamil Nadu, Bihar, Assam and the Northeast can now avail of 3G services.

"Idea has partnered with leading telecom operators in the country to enable seamless 3G connectivity," company's Chief Marketing Officer Sashi Shankar said in a statement.

Already the largest players Airtel and Vodafone have restarted offering 3G roaming services in circles where they don't have 3G network through intra-circle roaming arrangements from past weekend.

After telecom tribunal TDSAT upheld its plea to provide 3G intra-circle roaming services, Airtel on Sunday announced the resumption of its 3G services in eight circles.

In a statement, the service provider said 3G roaming services would now be available in Haryana, Maharashtra, Goa, Kerala, MPCG (Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh), Gujarat, Kolkata and UP (east) from Monday.

Prepaid customers in Kolkata can start enjoying 3G roaming right away on Airtel by selecting from 5 packs while postpaid customers will be able to avail the 3G roaming services soon.