Idea launches GPRS facilities

Idea Cellular Ltd, which recently achieved the milestone of reaching 5 lakh subscribers in the state, has launched its General Packet Radio service (GPRS) in Gujarat.

Idea is now the second GSM cellular operator in the state to offer GPRS facilities. It is also expected to launch the Enhanced Data for GSM Evolution (EDGE) services soon.

For the post-paid customers, the GPRS charges have been divided into three plans. GPRS customers access any website in their mobiles. Under the first scheme IOM (Internet on Mobile), customers will be charged on a kilobyte (KB) basis, with customers requiring to pay five paise per KB download.

Under the second plan, MWA (Mobile Web Access), which is charged on rental at the rate of Rs 250 per month and kilobye charges, customers will have to pay just one paise per kilobyte of data downloaded. The Rs 250 rental per month however includes free download of data of up to 25 megabytes (MB).

Under the third plan for post paid customers, which has been termed MWA-500, customers will get unlimited browsing facilities. The only rental that will be charged is Rs 500. However, these data download charges will exclude the charges for downloading wallpapers, tones and the like.

For pre-paid customers though, it is not possible to charge on kilobyte basis and only multui messaging service will be available to prepaid customers as of date. Content Charges have been fixed at between Rs 15 and 30 on various services ranging from wallpapers to themes.

The General Packet Radio Service (GPRS) is a non voice value added service that allows information to be sent and received across a mobile telephone network. It supplements today's Circuit Switched Data and Short Message Service.

GPRS facilitates instant connections whereby information can be sent or received immediately as the need arises, subject to radio coverage.

No dial-up modem connection is necessary.