Idea Launches 4G Services in Chennai

Idea Cellular on Monday announced the expansion of its high speed 4G LTE (1800MHz FDD-LTE Band 3) services to across 29 towns of Tamil Nadu, including Chennai. The telecom operator said that within two months, it has expanded its 4G LTE service footprint to 20 districts, including towns such as Chennai, Madurai, Trichy, Salem, Tirunelveli, Vellore, Erode, and Tirupur.

The operator said it is slated to roll out its 4G LTE services to Coimbatore and Pondicherry shortly. In December, Idea Cellular had announced the launch of 4G LTE services in 5 South Indian states, namely Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, and Karnataka. Earlier this month, the company launched services across 5 other states - Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Haryana, Punjab, and Odisha.

P Lakshminarayana, Chief Operating Officer- Corporate, Idea Cellular, spoke of the rollout in Chennai, saying, "Since the last week of December 2015, Idea has rapidly rolled out its high-speed 4G LTE network to cover 8 major markets in India. By March 2016, our services will extend to 2 more key markets namely, Maharashtra & Goa, and North East, and by June 2016, Idea's 4G footprint will cover 750 cities across 10 telecom circles."

Idea in an emailed statement said its subscribers can avail a complimentary 4G SIM card upgrade company showrooms and major retail outlets across 750 towns in India. It added that "existing customers in key non-4G towns will also be able to enjoy Idea's 4G services while roaming in these 4G towns by upgrading to 4G SIM cards from February 28."

As with other telecom operators, Idea charges the same data tariffs for 4G as its existing 3G plans. Its 4G packs begin for as low as Rs. 21. The company also detailed a special promotional offer for consumers upgrading to new 4G smartphones, "prepaid or postpaid customers buying new 4G smartphones before March 31 are being offered special double data benefit on all 1GB and above packs. The 100 percent extra 4G promotional data can only be utilised on Idea's 4G LTE network." The company has tied up with Samsung, Intex, Lava, Lenovo, Xolo to offer bundled 4G data plans on smartphones, as well as e-commerce site Snapdeal.