Reliance Communications cuts 3G rates by half

Country's third largest telecom operator Reliance Communications Thursday slashed 3G charges by more than 50 percent to bring them at par with 2G mobile Internet prices in 13 circles, including Delhi and Mumbai. RCom slashed 3G prices for all kind of connections - pre-paid, post-paid, new and old across 13 circles where its third-generation services are available.

"Only one-fourth of people who own 3G phones truly use for 3G services. There is huge barrier to affordability. We are cutting the 3G prices down to the 2G data rates," RCom President and CEO for Wireless, Gurdeep Singh, said here.

"Fundamentally, it is Rs. 123 to a GB of 3G which is equivalent to 2G price," he added. At present, 2G Internet for 1 GB usage costs Rs. 125 on the company's network.

RCom also reduced prices for 2GB and 4GB pack on 3G network to Rs. 246 and Rs. 492 respectively, which is around 35 to 45 percent lower than its competitors'.

After exhausting the usage limit, RCom customers will be charge 3 paise for every 10 kb of data.

"In 1GB people can watch 3 full length Hindi feature film if file size is around 300 MB, can listen to 250 songs with each song being around 4 MB," Singh said.

Last month Airtel, Idea, Vodafone and Tata Teleservices slashed their 3G and 2G data rates by up to 90 percent in select circles. However these reductions were for usage after exhausting limit provided in Internet package.

Singh said that company is looking to attract 40 percent smartphone users in the country.

"Future belong to those who have largest share of smartphones on their network or within smartphone those who have largest screen size. We are looking to 40 percent smartphone users to come on our network by 2015. At present we have over 14 percent smartphone user of 66 million in the country," Singh said.

RCom also announced a mobile number portability offer to attract customers on its network. "We will be giving consumers 2GB data free for first two months and then they will be brought in Rs. 123 data plan which is same as 2G plan."

RCom has 3G services 13 circles that include Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata, Punjab, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Jammu and Kashmir, West Bengal, Himachal Pradesh, Bihar, Odisha, Assam and North East.