Bharti airtel, India’s leading telecommunications company, today announced the commercial launch of its 3G services in the cities of Chennai and Coimbatore. Announcing this, Mr. Atul Bindal, President-Mobile Services, Bharti airtel also welcomed airtel Brand Ambassador and Cinestar Karthi onto the airtel 3G platform as the first airtel 3G customer in Chennai. airtel would offer services like video call, live streaming of Video, high speed internet, mobile TV entertainment, go video on social networking etc in Chennai & Coimbatore through 3G technology. airtel users can avail the services through existing sim cards. For laptop users airtel has also come up with 3G dongles.
Speaking on the occasion, Mr. Atul Bindal, President-Mobile Services, Bharti airtel said, “Today, as we introduce the airtel 3G promise in namma Chennai and Coimbatore – we are delighted to bring the power of the mobile internet deeper south. A new era begins for Tamil Nadu’s mobile phone users, with high-speed internet, better access to data services including mCommerce, social networking and mHealth in a robust ecosystem of affordable 3G-ready handsets and a range of applications at affordable prices. We are happy to give one more reason for all mobile users across Tamil Nadu to join India’s network – airtel”.
Keeping the focus on the user experience and relevant services, airtel’s 3G price plans are personalised and simple to understand:
1. PAYG VBC (Pay as you go): For all existing airtel 2G customers who want to experience the power of airtel internet on 3G for a short while, this tariff plan is the solution. The customer will pay the same prevailing data rates as on 2G service, but with the advantage of a faster mobile broadband.
2. Sachet Plans: The objective of these plans is to drive mass trial and adoption of 3G, and will serve as the natural upgrade path to higher rental plans. These plans will have validity of lesser than or equal to 10 days.
| Name of the plan | MRP | Free Data | Validity |
| Sachet Plan | Rs 8 | 10 MB | 1 day (Same day) |
| Sachet Plan (Time based) | Rs. 45 | 30 minutes | 3 days (1+2 Days) |
| Sachet Plan | Rs. 63 | 65 MB | 1 day (Same day) |
3. Standard Plans: These plans are best suited for the mid to high-end users of data and will have a validity of 30 days.
| Name of the plan | MRP – Prepaid | MRP – Postpaid | Free Data | Validity |
| Standard Plan | Rs. 101 | Rs. 100 | 100MB | 30 Days |
| Standard Plan | Rs. 201 | Rs. 200 | 250MB | 30 Days |
| Standard Plan | Rs. 451 | Rs. 450 | 600MB | 30 Days |
| Standard Plan | Rs. 751 | Rs. 750 | 2GB | 30 Days |
4. FlexiShield Plan: This plan has a combination of free data usage and a low inbuilt VBC rate. The plan is constructed in a way that it provides the customer, the flexibility to start from a relatively lower initial rental commitment and shields from a bill shock.
| Name of the plan | MRP -Prepaid | MRP – Postpaid | Free Data | Validity |
| FlexiShield Plan | Rs. 675 | Rs. 675 | 1.25GB | 30 Days |
Note: Sachet Plans available only on Prepaid, FlexiShield Plan available on both postpaid & prepaid
airtel also introduces an initiative to help customers manage their 3G data usage and prevent ‘bill shock’ – by offering proactive, personalized and timely data usage alerts to its customers. The company has also introduced a first of its kind ‘internet usage calculator’ (www.airtel.in/Airtel-3G/) that will help customers monitor and analyse their current internet data usage and choose an airtel 3G plan accordingly.
To know more or join airtel 3G services, customers can visit www.airtel.in/Airtel-3G/, call the Toll Free Helpline 12134 or SMS ‘3G HELP’ to 121.