Aircel First Telecom to Launch Free Roaming Service

Good in letter and spirit. Other Telecom companies should follow with similar products and all the operators should now offer free roaming services across the country.

Aircel today launched a product that offers users one rate for voice, SMS and data in home circles and on roaming.

'One Nation, One Rate', offers one rate for voice, SMS and data in home circles and on roaming on Aircel network, the company said in a statement.

"Incoming calls while on roaming on Aircel network will be free," it added.

Aircel users in Delhi can avail the service for Rs 39, while Mumbai subscribers have to pay Rs 32, the statement said.

The price points for the service for other circles range from Rs 21 to Rs 59, it added.

"...this product will enable Aircel customers to enjoy one rate for voice, SMS and data services in their respective home circles and even while they are on roaming," Aircel Chief Marketing Officer Anupam Vasudev said.

The product will offer voice - (Local/National) calling at 1paisa/second in home circle as well as on roaming on Aircel network, while incoming calls on roaming will be free.

SMS will be charged at Re 1 for home circle as well as on roaming while data users will be able to carry the home circle rate on roaming, the statement added. 

But it is well disappointing that it has removed it services from Visakhapatnam.

Aircel Cheapest Tariffs For Students

Aircel is the best 3G service provider now in India. Aircel is also looking for its 4G services which will be out soon.

It has been modifying its  tariff as per the requirement of its users. And now it has given a brand new offer for college students to call anywhere with just 5paisa/call.

Isn't it interesting!!!!

Aircel is targeting college and university freshers with its new Campus Special Plans. At a pocket friendly price of Rs 149, students will get to have everything from free SMS to data plan. The new plan will definitely help students to make new buddies in college without putting strain on their pockets.

The Campus Special offers a special tariff of 5 paisa per minute for local Aircel to Aircel calls for 333 local and STD minutes, 1 GB data and 2000 SMS for 3 months at pocket friendly price of Rs 149. 

"Aircel's new 'Campus Special' plan allows the youth to savour the irresistible platter of services - talk, text and surf. Staying connected is the foremost need of today's youth and this plan caters to just that,” said Anil Gupta, circle head, New Delhi and Haryana, Aircel in The Mobile Indian report. To avail the offer, students of all the colleges and universities in Delhi and National Capital Region (NCR) need to show their college identity card.  

So what do you feel about these plans, and if you think Aircel has taken a good step forward then comment your reviews.

Cheapest iPhone in the World

Indian operator Aircel sprung a pleasant surprise by announcing that it had slashed the iPhone 3GS price to Rs. 9,999 (US $180). While the iPhone 3GS is available for free on a contract in the US, as far as total cost of ownership is concerned, the Aircel deal is probably the cheapest iPhone anywhere in the world.

Aircel is offering the black 8GB iPhone 3GS for an upfront payment of Rs. 9,999 (US $180) and an "advance rental" of Rs. 3,000 (US $55). This advance rental gets you 2GB of 3G data per month for an year or 1000 minutes and 2500 text messages per month for 6 months.

The icing on the cake is that the phones are unlocked, which means you are free to take the phone anywhere in the world, and put in a SIM of your choice. That's right, an unlocked iPhone for a total cost of $235 ($180 + $55).

As a contrast, in the US you can pick-up an iPhone 3GS 8GB for free but with a two-year $39.99 a month contract. That's a whooping $960 over the 24 months, and the device is locked to AT&T for the length of the contract.

Alternatively, you can pick up an unlocked iPhone for an up-front $375 in the US, £319.00 ($498) in the UK, HKD 2,888 ($372) in Hong Kong, A$449 ($465) in Australia or Euro 349 ($424) in Spain. That makes the Aircel iPhone 3GS the cheapest by a wide-margin - $137 or around Rs. 7500.

Now if that isn't the cheapest iPhone deal anywhere in the world, we don't know what is. No seriously, if your country/ operator offers a cheaper iPhone total cost of ownership, let us know via the comments!!!!

Aircel plans to launch 4G services later this year

Thanks to Aircel for looking towards 4G........

After Bharti Airtel, Aircel is reportedly gearing up to launch its 4G services in India. The telecom operator, which holds the spectrum licence for eight circles, will begin rolling out 4G services between October and December this year. Aircel is reportedly going to spend approximately $500 million (roughly Rs. 2,757 crore) to set up the network.

Aircel, which recently slashed its 3G tariff prices, has spectrum licence for Jammu and Kashmir, Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, West Bengal, Bihar, Odisha, Assam and North East. Currently, Aircel is offering 3G services in 13 circles including Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, West Bengal, Kolkata and Bihar.

According to a Business Standard report, Aircel isn't just looking to offer 4G services through dongles and devices but also via broadband internet, video on demand, education and health care services and broadcasting. The telco has already starting working on creating a fibre optic backbone for this purpose.

Sandip Das, CEO of Malaysian telco Maxis Berhad (which controls a majority stake in Aircel), says Aircel does not intend to become an all-India player in 4G, but will prefer to become a major data player in certain circles. He also hinted that Aircel's 4G tariff prices will be similar to its current 3G services. “We have already equalised our 2G and 3G tariffs and have over a million subscribers. With China and India dominating the LTE market, we’ll see prices of devices fall,” Das is quoted as saying.

Bharti Airtel earlier this year became the first telecom operator in India to launch 4G services in the country. Also, it kicked off a 3G price war by slashing tariff prices by up to 70 percent. Apart from Airtel, Tikona and Reliance are planning to launch their 4G services this year.

It would be interesting to see the 4G war between the operators.....isn't it????