Idea expands 4G service to 22 Karnataka towns

Telecom operator Idea Cellular today announced the expansion of its hi-speed 4G service to 22 towns in Karnataka circle, taking the total tally to 61.
The company now covers all major towns across 27 districts in the state, it said in a statement.
Moreover, in 29 out of these 61 towns, Idea is the sole provider of 4G service, it added.
Idea's 4G LTE service is now available in Mangaluru, Hubbali-Dharwad, Hospet, Udupi, Davangere, Hassan, Kolar, Tumakur, Vijayapura, Bagalkot and Bidar, in addition to the existing towns of Bengaluru, Mysuru, Belagavi and Chitradurga.
While data benefits announced by Airtel and Idea are more

or less similar (both are offering similar amount of bonus data to customers), Airtel's monthly pack is priced marginally higher than Idea.

Commenting on data pricing war that is playing out in the market, Prashant Singhal, global leader for telecom practice at EY said, "It has to do with economies of scale...As more and more data penetration takes place, rates have to come down."
The latest move by telecom operators with regard to data pricing combined with drop in handset prices will drive affordability for customers, he added.
Only yesterday, Bharti Airtel increased benefits on select pre-paid data recharge packs and sachet packs by offering up to 25-67 per cent more data at the same price. The company said the move would enable customers to stay online longer and download more of their favorite content, thereby enriching mobile internet experience.

In 4G/3G new monthly pack, Airtel is packing-in 40-67 per cent more data. In the Sachet Packs category, the company is offering 32-48 per cent more data for the same price.
Meanwhile, Airtel has also announced enhancement of 4G capacity in Bangalore. It is the only company at present that operates 4G services in 2 spectrum bands - 1800 MHz and 2300 MHz.
Players like Airtel and Idea have upped the ante in mobile data pricing ahead of the upcoming commercial launch by Reliance Jio. The company recently said it has over 1.5 million test users on its network although it did not specify a launch date for its commercial operations.

Reliance Jio, which is gearing up to launch its 4G services, had also said that during the recently-concluded quarter, it extended its trial services to all LYF devices users under the Jio LYF Preview Offer.
This, it said, has enabled testing of all the services to customers outside the initial set of test users, and added that the feedback has been encouraging.