Idea Cellular says net neutrality will raise data price to Rs 1,000-2,500 per GB

Idea Cellular has warned that companies like itself will have to raise data prices to 108-250 paise/MB (Rs 1,105-2,560 per GB) if government imposes net neutrality on wireless providers.This would required as voice call rates will fall to 7.5 paise per minute if net neutrality is allowed in the current situation, Idea Cellular said. Idea Cellular said it would have to raise data prices to these levels to account for a steep decline in voice rates.

Explaining in detail, Idea Cellular said that a single minute of voice call on applications like WhatsApp and Skype consumes only 300 kB. Since currently 1 MB of data is priced at just 25 paise, therefore, one minute of WhatsApp call will cost only 7.5 paise (including the cost of incoming.)

Idea Cellular says net neutrality will raise data price to Rs 1,000-2,500 per GB | REAL TIME NEWS

Dear Idea cellular.
This is not USA and you are not Comcast/ATT

I'll use BB thanks.

M

Yay! Finally expensive data plans

. Do it Idea, best of luck.You and airtel will pack your bags.

This will increase the users of broadband and ISPs deploy more fibre networks and more attractive plans

We should also think of high spectrum costs too.

While everybody was blaming A. Raja for telecom scam, he actually benefitted us a lot and lead to one of lowest call rates worldwide.

Now after the honourable supreme court mandated spectrum auction running into thousands of crores, and the loss of voice revenue we are surely facing a hike in overall telecom charges.

Guess the people who run Idea didn't study on IIN or did they. :lol:

Rs 1000/GB yeah right. :rofl:

I pay around Rs 930/month including taxes and download ~120-140 GB on 512 kbps internet.

They can put their plans in their own :censored:

Edit:

At least we'll not have to see those stupid IIN advertisements anymore. :bananana:

K

Yippee everyone port to BSNL now.

If Net Neutrality happens pf course BSNL will reduce tarrifs.

They'll try everything possible to get a chance to hike prices. But seriously 1000/Gb.

People here are so price conscious that they are waiting for 1Gb 3G data to come under 150/month bracket. People here recharge 22 pack 150MB and use 2G pack happily for 1 week.

I bet even 200/Gb won't do. Already people feel 2G and 3G packages are not affordable.

88 percent of Indian smartphone owners who do not use mobile broadband feel that it is too expensive,” Gupta said. According to study, 70 percent people use mobile broadband to access video and 27 percent more are willing to start accessing it but not doing at present due to barriers cost and network barrier identified in the survey.

63 percent mobile users in India face network issues while accessing Internet: Study | Latest Tech News, Video & Photo Reviews at BGR India

kunalgujarathi said:
Yippee everyone port to BSNL now.

If Net Neutrality happens pf course BSNL will reduce tarrifs.

They already reduced tariffs for landline. Hope, will see some updates in Broadband too.

BSNL announces new schemes - The Hindu

SaiyanGoku said:
Guess the people who run Idea didn't study on IIN or did they.

Rs 1000/GB yeah right.
I pay around Rs 930/month including taxes and download ~120-140 GB on 512 kbps internet.

They can put their plans in their own

Edit:

At least we'll not have to see those stupid IIN advertisements anymore.

kunalgujarathi said:
Yippee everyone port to BSNL now.

If Net Neutrality happens pf course BSNL will reduce tarrifs.

+1 to both of your comments.
Are they(!dea) out of their mind?????

Looks and seems that the so called Industrialists are the real robbers and cheaters in the midst of our society. Now they are fully open with their knives and teeth to cut us to pieces.
Long live old,faithful,trustworthy yet crappy servicing BSNL.

nice psycho pricing

SaiyanGoku said:
Guess the people who run Idea didn't study on IIN or did they.

Rs 1000/GB yeah right.
I pay around Rs 930/month including taxes and download ~120-140 GB on 512 kbps internet.

They can put their plans in their own

Edit:

At least we'll not have to see those stupid IIN advertisements anymore.

lol...

yeah this pricing will probably mean end for wireless internet.

I'm already on the way of porting from idea to bsnl

G

All of this is just bhashan baji, trying to make their own case. CCI, TRAI and Telecom commission will never let them get away with any charge that is not valid. (Especially CCI)

As for high spectrum cost, it is simply an issue of demand and supply. And let's be thankful that only market competition decided the price of a national asset unlike when UPA and A. Raja ruled the roost.

swatkats said:
Idea Cellular says net neutrality will raise data price to Rs 1,000-2,500 per GB | REAL TIME NEWS

Dear Idea cellular.
This is not USA and you are not Comcast/ATT

*i.imgur.com/JWYs0s1.jpg

On a serious note, I'll pay extra if required(not that much) to get neutral network.

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kg11sgbg said:
+1 to both of your comments.
Are they(!dea) out of their mind?????

Looks and seems that the so called Industrialists are the real robbers and cheaters in the midst of our society. Now they are fully open with their knives and teeth to cut us to pieces.
Long live old,faithful,trustworthy yet crappy servicing BSNL.

Amen to that, they are the only service which never gave a f**k to these type of features, although their service sucks, we now know that those cheap prices(looking at you Reliance Jio) actually come with a catch.

gemini90 said:
All of this is just bhashan baji, trying to make their own case. CCI, TRAI and Telecom commission will never let them get away with any charge that is not valid. (Especially CCI)

As for high spectrum cost, it is simply an issue of demand and supply. And let's be thankful that only market competition decided the price of a national asset unlike when UPA and A. Raja ruled the roost.

What makes a nation? I understand it is us the citizens that make it and not the government. So when the spectrum was allocated for low price who got the benefit? I understand it is us who got to enjoy one of the lowest telecom rates in the world. Nobody lost anything.

Now that the government has got so much money who is paying for it? Us by increased charges. Even TRAI cannot do anything in that case. Before criticising telcos in a blanket fashion we need to understand that they have to be sustainable which means they have to be profitable. If they are not profitable and unable to invest not much good can be expected in the future. BSNL can and may provide it as long as it is bankrolled by the government. Otherwise at the way it is making losses, it is soon to become another Air India.

^ But the private Telecos make billions of rupees in profits. And they have become greedier, wanting to exploit every chance they can get. Like the unwanted self activation of overpriced VAS, increasing the data rates by 6-7 times (Airtel used to have 2 GB for rs 98/month 2g while now its 1 GB for rs 160 /28 days).

Having 16 different operators keeps them in check to some extent. That was done by A. Raja too so I like him for that although not for the way he gave out those licenses/spectrum (first come first served).

They too create useful jobs all around. And they too have significant individual shareholders not all of whom are billionaires. Granted the owners may be but that is their reward for doing it in the first place.

We at present have the best mix I believe - a few established telcos, few other ones competing to keep them in check and being more enterprising, then the PSUs to balance the field and TRAI there to fix a few things such as high roaming rates/SMS charges etc.

All in all very good right now.

I'm not sure what Idea is fretting over, calling over internet requires 3g and consumes huge amount of data to maintain minimum qos, plus there is huge latency and both side has to pay for data charges and have to have good connections. Whatsapp call is being used by people over wifi mostly and before that skype was already there, no way they are going to lose major call charges over that, also they will rake in profit for data charges anyway. What whatsapp killed is sms, which was laggy anyway, now a days online shops are using sms heavily and they will sure rake in more profit from that. They are greedy that's all.

G

sling-shot said:
What makes a nation? I understand it is us the citizens that make it and not the government. So when the spectrum was allocated for low price who got the benefit? I understand it is us who got to enjoy one of the lowest telecom rates in the world. Nobody lost anything.

Now that the government has got so much money who is paying for it? Us by increased charges. Even TRAI cannot do anything in that case. Before criticising telcos in a blanket fashion we need to understand that they have to be sustainable which means they have to be profitable. If they are not profitable and unable to invest not much good can be expected in the future. BSNL can and may provide it as long as it is bankrolled by the government. Otherwise at the way it is making losses, it is soon to become another Air India.

It is not the Government's job to decide what the private sector charges for their services as long as it is within prescribed norms and not resulting in open leeching of customers. To ensure that this does not happen, there are independent autonomous bodies who have semi-judicial powers. The Gov plans to use that money to improve the infrastructure which is rightly this gov's aim.

Where as when extraneous decisions are made, in place of market forces, well the entire UPA rule of 10 years is a perfect example of how ultimately it is the public which is leeched by the corporates and politicians. That money is neither used in infrastructure nor does it goes back into our pockets.

And let's be frank. compared to the rest of the world, charges in india are still on the lower side.

^ We are getting ripped off as far as data rates and speeds are concerned.

World has moved to 4g and they have affordable plans which have true unlimited 3g without F(*cked Up)air Usage Policy. We still don't get proper 3G speeds.

This article is enough to say about the pathetic state of Internet in the world's largest democracy:
Internet in Romania - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

G

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SaiyanGoku said:
^ We are getting ripped off as far as data rates and speeds are concerned.

World has moved to 4g and they have affordable plans which have true unlimited 3g without F(*cked Up)air Usage Policy. We still don't get proper 3G speeds.

This article is enough to say about the pathetic state of Internet in the world's largest democracy:
Internet in Romania - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

First of all, don't panic. Just because the companies are saying so, does not mean they are going to do it. Look at the track record of Competition Commission of India against cartels.

Secondly, Why don't you guys look at the bigger picture? Gov needs money to improve infrastructure. And as for the advantages of low cost spectrum to us, how do you suggest the Gov collects funds for its schemes. By increasing income tax, by taking debt (worst idea) or anything else? The whole country, even the poor, and their future generation will pay for our generation's need for cheap mobile and internet services. Damn everything else.

As for other countries, well they decided to fund their development through debt route. look at their debt levels and see what is happening to the lost young generations there without any jobs. Now if this gov. does not bring noticeable changes in the infrastructure of India, then by all means, ask questions and throw them out of power for leeching your hard earned money. Else we can always bring back Congress who wanted to police social media and throw dissenters into jail.

In the end, do you want india to be a perennial low level income country with rubbish infrastructure and services or else do you want to move to next phase ?

gemini90 said:
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First of all, don't panic. Just because the companies are saying so, does not mean they are going to do it. Look at the track record of Competition Commission of India against cartels.

Secondly, Why don't you guys look at the bigger picture? Gov needs money to improve infrastructure. And as for the advantages of low cost spectrum to us, how do you suggest the Gov collects funds for its schemes. By increasing income tax, by taking debt (worst idea) or anything else? The whole country, even the poor, and their future generation will pay for our generation's need for cheap mobile and internet services. Damn everything else.

As for other countries, well they decided to fund their development through debt route. look at their debt levels and see what is happening to the lost young generations there without any jobs. Now if this gov. does not bring noticeable changes in the infrastructure of India, then by all means, ask questions and throw them out of power for leeching your hard earned money. Else we can always bring back Congress who wanted to police social media and throw dissenters into jail.

In the end, do you want india to be a perennial low level income country with rubbish infrastructure and services or else do you want to move to next phase ?

It still isn't? :shock:

G

tkin said:
It still isn't?

Meaning?

This gov is already aiming to put india in top 50 in 'ease to do business' ranking, so that new entrants can enter the market to develop competition instead of the usual ruling the roost. Start-ups are getting launched and financed comparatively easy. In short, laying down foundation for a better tomorrow where the customer will be the ultimate benefactors.

J Gopikrishnan ‏@jgopikrishnan70 1h1 hour ago

Whistle blowers in corporates growing. Latest- again MukeshAmbani companies retainership data of rtd Judges,MPs, sons of Ministers leaked!!

S

gemini90 said:
Meaning?

This gov is already aiming to put india in top 50 in 'ease to do business' ranking, so that new entrants can enter the market to develop competition instead of the usual ruling the roost. Start-ups are getting launched and financed comparatively easy. In short, laying down foundation for a better tomorrow where the customer will be the ultimate benefactors.

Chicken or the egg....right ?
Government needs money to increase development, taxes put strain on common man, the quality of life decreases. Taxes are low and common man is enjoying his high speed internet(hey, I want this post to be relevant in this thread!! xD), but the government can't sustain the basic infrastructure because...well there is no money for that!!

Seemingly, low cost internet will increase the availability of information to masses, and that might help them to analyze and make decisions more efficiently. But can companies provide low cost internet without losing money ? The simple reality is that no one works for others, but for him/herself. Companies are not different, but they can capitalize on economy of scale and price elasticity. I mean, provide internet at low cost=Substantial amount of population will start to use it=Losses are recovered by increased data consumption(and this is one risky hypothetical assumption, for companies atleast). I am ready to pay 3K for a truly unlimited 3G plan, but I am not ready to pay 1.5K for a absurd FUP plan(which gives no advantage to me, or to company in long run).
The reason we hate(or pretty soon, used to hate) BSNL is because of the poor quality of service, but to be honest, they have the best call/data rates in country and transparent billing(at least for postpaid), now if more people will switch to BSNL, they will have more incentive to switch to higher quality core telecom switches and equipments, and the quality of service will improve, but that will require a commitment and patience to initial whiplash of service degradation which we are not willing to endure.

So many contradictions in place, I wonder if we will ever be able to find solutions or we will keep complaining.

Edit: I wonder if we can have any startup in telecom sector, or in that case, a sector with potential of mass impact. I guess not, because of the license Raj and paperwork involved with it. Even if government removes it, they need to do more. Consumer infrastructure can benefit both, industries and consumers, but a dedicated infrastructure just for one single entity type will be expensive for government in short run and in long run for startups using it.

We Indians are very greedy (most of the people if not all) and we try and to everything to make more money than our colleagure, neighbours, and compitiors,

india has not given anything great in past century, we have only created greedy managers who head multinational companies and big tech giants, but at last they all are managers but not great creators like Linus Torvalds, Mark Shuttleworth etc.

and biggest culprits is those II institutes, who only creates Silencer (3 idiots) type people and teach how to make money and not how to make society.

Really 1000, I think they mistyped it with 100

My friend in Malaysia gets 20MBps speed (download speed of 2.5MB) and he says its slow in his area where as they are upgrading these service to 50MBps all over country this July.
He pays ~5k INR which include TV channels as well
No FUP so its truly unlimited (once he showed his speed of his college which made me cry lol)
*i.imgur.com/zjO3KIa.jpg

Now just imaging if Idea was operating this network

I was thinking of porting to idea because vodafone 3g sucks now in mumbai. Guess ill stay for now :mrgreen:

.jRay. said:
I was thinking of porting to idea because vodafone 3g sucks now in mumbai. Guess ill stay for now

Every other 3G network sucks here in Mumbai. I have tried all & at present with airtel since last 7-8 months who are reducing the benefits gradually.
All networks are on par.
Reliance GSM is at least providing VFM billing plans check FREEDOM 350 & FREEDOM 599

Here in Mumbai Idea uses Airtel's 3G Network which was costly when I checked around 7 months back.

sling-shot said:
We should also think of high spectrum costs too.

While everybody was blaming A. Raja for telecom scam, he actually benefitted us a lot and lead to one of lowest call rates worldwide.

Now after the honourable supreme court mandated spectrum auction running into thousands of crores, and the loss of voice revenue we are surely facing a hike in overall telecom charges.

Skyh3ck said:
We Indians are very greedy (most of the people if not all) and we try and to everything to make more money than our colleagure, neighbours, and compitiors,

india has not given anything great in past century, we have only created greedy managers who head multinational companies and big tech giants, but at last they all are managers but not great creators like Linus Torvalds, Mark Shuttleworth etc.

and biggest culprits is those II institutes, who only creates Silencer (3 idiots) type people and teach how to make money and not how to make society.

well, cellular prices could be a little cheaper, if were few less rooms in the company owners mansions. gvt needs money to run the country, so, with so little numbers of direct tax payers, if they seek indirect taxes from telecom & coalfield, they can't reasonable be blamed.

K

are they retarded?? How will voice calls on whatsapp affect voice rates??
Regular calls are actually better quality than Whatsapp calls /VOIP unless on wifi,people havent been using Viber or skype calls over regular calls for years now
this is just bull excuses

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sandynator said:
Every other 3G network sucks here in Mumbai. I have tried all & at present with airtel since last 7-8 months who are reducing the benefits gradually.
All networks are on par.
Reliance GSM is at least providing VFM billing plans check FREEDOM 350 & FREEDOM 599

Here in Mumbai Idea uses Airtel's 3G Network which was costly when I checked around 7 months back.

still ive got all network providers sims in my house
its Idea and airtel>>vodafone and the others,quality wise

K

sling-shot said:
What makes a nation? I understand it is us the citizens that make it and not the government. So when the spectrum was allocated for low price who got the benefit? I understand it is us who got to enjoy one of the lowest telecom rates in the world. Nobody lost anything.

Now that the government has got so much money who is paying for it? Us by increased charges. Even TRAI cannot do anything in that case. Before criticising telcos in a blanket fashion we need to understand that they have to be sustainable which means they have to be profitable. If they are not profitable and unable to invest not much good can be expected in the future. BSNL can and may provide it as long as it is bankrolled by the government. Otherwise at the way it is making losses, it is soon to become another Air India.

I don't get your theory.
If ACT , Beam and BSNL can provide such good tarrifs in Hyderabad.
Then Airtel is worst.
Today I pay 151 Rs./month on 1 GB BSNL which gives 2-4 mbps and ₹1000/month for tikona to get 4 mbps 50 GB FUP.

Do you think this is cheapest?
Knock knock

Cheap is something like 1-2 mbps unlimited for ₹500/month.

Lol I think you are either son of some Ambani or some other rich businessman.

Internet should be cheap and what UK does is that it provides 1-2 mbps free to each and every citizen.

I was actually thinking of voice rates and not broadband. And the spectrum issue refers to cellular spectrum. And the data rates being discussed are for cellular data.

You are talking of fibre broadband.

Skyh3ck said:
We Indians are very greedy (most of the people if not all) and we try and to everything to make more money than our colleagure, neighbours, and compitiors,

india has not given anything great in past century, we have only created greedy managers who head multinational companies and big tech giants, but at last they all are managers but not great creators like Linus Torvalds, Mark Shuttleworth etc.

and biggest culprits is those II institutes, who only creates Silencer (3 idiots) type people and teach how to make money and not how to make society.

totally agree with you bro and I can make this even longer but that would offtopic. Anyway, coming to the topic : some companies act like they are showing mercy just by providing net connection but truth is they are doing it for profit and when you run a business you have to make profit. But not by leeching customers out of greed. Personally I'm still with 2G network [ on phone ] and I just don't use whatsapp for calling. Even though the network mode is edge the speed is just too slow. Internet can give you lots of info and if you have the right mind you can learn lots from it.

" Democracy cannot succeed unless those who express their choice are prepared to choose wisely. The real safeguard of democracy, therefore, is education."