Idea No Longer Rocks! Why?

[Himanshu Singh 19]

THE BEGINNING

Idea cellular has been my personal favourite ever since I decided that I could have no more of Reliance's pathetic billing experiences. I got an Idea I card in April 2007 and till June 2008 I had no reasons to even question that decision.I knew Idea was a small fry when compared to Airtel, Reliance, Tata, MTNL or even Vodafone but I was not impressed by any of them save MTNL.

HAPPY TIMES

With I card I was able to call 5 STD numbers for Rs.1.32/min, send local or national sms@0.25.I have few local calls to make so local calls@1.99 was never a worry for me. And in case I needed to call local I had my MTNL which charged Re.1/min.All this when other operators were charging Rs.2.75/min for std calls, Rs.1.99for local calls,Re.1.20 for local sms and Rs.2 for std sms. I was very happy with I card which gave such benefits for daily rent of Re.1.

When Idea launched Gang card I was again up for it. Gang to gang@0.10/min,Local mobille calls@0.50/min(Rs.2/min in evening), landlines@2/min, all sms for 0.10(25paise in evening), STD calls@2.75 but with 39 recharge it was @1/min for calls to mobiles only(only during happy hours).

Within months Idea did a great thing. First it reduced local calls to Re.1/min during evening hours. Then soon it went a step ahead and reduced the local landline call rate to 0.50/min during happy hours. Further Idea removed the concept of happy and non happy hours for STD calls which meant that on a recharge of 39 all std calls, including calls to landline, cost Re.1/min for 24 hours. Idea went ahead and allowed special packs like sms pack, free idea to idea mins pack with Gang card which were not allowed earlier.

THINGS GO WRONG!

All this was happening and was good news for Idea subscribers. But since July there have been multiple problems with idea.

1. Idea's network has deteriorated during past 1 month. Incidents of call drops, congestion, phones not being reachable due to poor network have increased significantly.

2. Idea has increased the cost of most of its VAS services during past 30-40 days. For example I2I packs are more expensive now. GPRS plan which offered unlimited usage@5/day was increased to Rs.20/day. All India std pack which used to come for Rs.31 now comes for Rs.34.

3. Idea has first increased the talktime and then decreased it suddenly in case of most small denomination recharges like Rs.10( earlier 7.90 now 6.90) Rs.25(earlier 20.25 now 19.25) and even 100(earlier 89 now 85).

4. Full talktime on 333 used to come with Rs.333 normal talktime and 33 free I2I mins, 555 used to come with Rs.555 normal talktime and 110 I2I mins, 999 used to come with Rs.889 normal talkime and 889 I2I mins. Now all I2I free mins with Full talktime denominations are withdrawn.

5. All India STD calls were increased from Rs.1.30/min to Rs.1.50/min in Delhi circle wef July 16, 2008.

WHAT WENT WRONG?

I wondered as to why Idea was going through such a phase? The answer was not hard to find:

1.Idea Cellular had reported a 14.7 per cent decline in net profit to Rs 263.1 crore in the first quarter of this financial year due to forex losses and higher interest charges.

2.Idea had applied for the licenses of Punjab and Karnataka when it applied for a pan-india gsm license. It has already paid the license fee amounting to Rs.350 crores for these two circles.The Department of Telecom has said that the company will have to surrender its licence in Punjab and Karnataka without getting a refund of entry fee paid for these circles to avoid overlapping of service areas. This obviously was not something Idea's think tank had anticipated. They hoped that they would get the refund of the entry free paid to the DoT.

3. DoT’s decision also means that the B K Modi Group may also stand to lose money it paid for acquiring licences in Delhi, Andhra Pradesh, Haryana and Maharashtra circles as Idea Cellular already has operations in these circles.

4.Idea Cellular has coughed up nearly Rs 3,500 crore for the acquisition of Spice, including the Rs 543.97-crore it paid as a non-compete fee to the BK Modi Group.

5. Idea is expanding its services to Mumbai and Bihar by the end of this quarter which incurs capital expenditure

HOPE AND REALITY

Now the question remains will Idea be back to what it was?

1.It still remains a good proposition for prepaid users due to gang card.

2.The customer care executive can be accessed within 60 seconds of dialling the number unlike Airtel where it is a harrowing experience to get to a talking soul.

3.The talktime offerings are still better than all other operators in Delhi.

I hope Idea gets well soon!

Edited August 16, 2008 by sachinrocks

[hritik123 4]

good diagnosis, hope the patient improves,

[raccoon 53]

I'm so glad all that dosen't apply to Mah & Goa circle... phew!!!

2.The customer care executive can be accessed within 60 seconds of dialling the number unlike Airtel where it is a harrowing experience to get to a talking soul.

Well, the converse is true here... You can get Airtel CC quite easily... but getting Idea CC is like winning a lottery! But then they have done my stuff thru emails... so I can bear with them...

[Honest 836]

MY dear friends, as we all knows that IDEA is going to launch its services in Mumbai from September onwards, only GOD knows what they are going to do with their "would be" subscribers of Mumbai ?

Regards.

[vmsanghrajka 0]

Idea is influenced by BIG Pan-India operators aka Vodafone and Airtel.. Idea has formed 'my gang' with these two.. Starting with Indus Towers (JV between Airtel-Vidafone-Idea), started using same language as these two (Opposing Reliance entry in GSM) and now copying Airtel and Vodafone's anti-consumer practices..

What a 'bogus' Idea, Sirje!