IDEA Cellular Enters J&K with Regional Content

IDEA Cellular has completed its North India roll-out with the launch of services in Jammu and Kashmir. The initial launch covers Jammu City, Bari Brahmana, Bishnah, Katra, Udhampur, and Jammu-Katra Highway.

The next phase will cover places including Srinagar, Lakhanpur, Badgam, Anantnag, Mattan, Kulgam, Pulwama, Shopian, Ganderbal, Patan and Sumbal by the end of the calendar year.

IDEA plans to have over 300 cell sites in the state covering 62 population centres in 14 districts of the state. It will have a 4,500 retail network in J&K by March 2010, a company release said.

Announcing the launch of operations, Ambrish Jain, director-operations, IDEA Cellular, said, "Our network and offerings in J&K have been designed keeping in mind the mobile communication needs of the people of this state. Idea subscribers in the state will experience superior connectivity, whisper-clear audio quality and zero call congestion on our network."

The operator has lined up special voice portal with rich content in the areas of news, sports, entertainment, and other regional content in Dogri and Kashmiri languages for its subscribers in J&K.

IDEA’s launch scheme offers subscribers local calls for 40 paise per minute and STD for 60 paise per minute. Local SMS will be charged 40 paise while national SMS will be charged 60 paise. The offer is available for Rs 49 with a talktime of Rs 5 with three months validity.