Vodafone 3G plans now start from Rs 25 for 25 MB data usage and go up to Rs 1,599 for 12 GB data usage.
Under the pay-as-you-go for pre-paid customers, the rate has been cut by 80 per cent to 2 paise per 10kb.
With reduction in tariffs, Vodafone also announced there will be no additional charges for roaming on data usage.
"Additionally, Vodafone will now allow its customers to use data from their bundle package while on-net roaming across any location in India [ Images ] without any additional charge," a company statement said.
Last month, Bharti Airtel, Idea Cellular [ Get Quote ] and Reliance Communications [ Get Quote ] had reduced tariffs for its third generation high speed Internet services.
"With the introduction of these plans, we aim at establishing a foundation for providing a 3G data plan for everyone, making it affordable to the masses in the country,"Vodafone India Chief Commercial Officer Sanjoy Mukerji said.
The 3G tariff war is happening at a time when most of the operators are up in arms against the high reserve price of spectrum proposed by sectoral regulators Trai.
The government is likely to take a decision on spectrum price in the Empowered group of Ministers meeting on July 21.
The operators have warned that mobile bills could increase by up to 100 per cent in certain circles if the proposals are accepted.
According to industry experts, the price war in 3G tariffs may be an effort to cash huge investments made by telecom operators.
The government had received over Rs 67,000 crore (Rs 670 billion) from the 3G auctions held in 2010.
With operators taking huge loans to pay for the 3G licences, experts say operators are under pressure to recover the investment.
T-Mobile slashes data roaming prices for EU - The Guardian
T-Mobile has unveiled details of a market-leading tariff for consumers who want access to the internet through mobile phones while overseas, and announced plans that will prevent customers experiencing "bill shock" when they return from travelling.
The cost of using your mobile phone to access the internet is set to fall dramatically across Europe from 1 July following implementation of rules to stop UK mobile providers setting excessive charges.
It means holidaymakers may finally be able to chat to friends on Facebook or watch YouTube on the beach without breaking the bank.
Some consumers have suffered bill shock after unwittingly running-up charges amounting to thousands of pounds while on holiday, after leaving data-hungry smartphone apps running in the background.
Source: consumerchoices.co.uk However, mobile providers are introducing lower roaming charges and deals on data allowances in anticipation of tighter pricing controls.
T-Mobile will allow customers to buy "booster" deals, based on how much data they wish to use, and will completely block overseas internet usage until customers purchase one of the new packages (available from 19 June).
Comparison site Broadband Choices said T-Mobile was the best option for consumers wishing to use the internet briefly, buying 3MB worth of data for just £1 or 33p per MB.
However heavy internet users might find other tariffs cheaper than T-mobile's larger bundles, which are priced at £5 for 20MB and £10 for 50MB (both have time limits).
Three is offering an "all-you-can-eat" tariff, the Euro Internet Pass, for £5, while Vodafone will allow customers to use their existing UK plan overseas for an extra £3 a day.
However Three's Euro Internet Pass will not allow streaming or tethering – where a mobile is linked to a laptop to enable internet access.
For frequent travellers Virgin Mobile's new data passes, available from 25 June2012, are valid for three months or until the data is used up, so there is no need to use all the data allowance within 24 hours. This makes the £3 charge for 5MB or £5 for 10MB reasonably cost effective.
A megabyte of data is equivalent to accessing eight normal web pages or 200 emails without attachments, according to Which?. You would need 10MB to download one music track.
The Guardian has reported on several cases of mobile bill shock in recent weeks, including that of Alexandra Xanthaki, who faced a £2,600 bill after using an iPhone app to find restaurants on a short trip abroad.
Consumers can also end up considerably out of pocket if their phone is stolen. Johan Potgieter, was landed with a £9,000 bill from Orange after thieves stole his phone while he was on holiday in South Africa.
The EU ruling caps charges imposed by UK network providers for overseas roaming.
From 1 July, the cost of data can be no more than €0.70 per MB, plus VAT, which is around 69p. This will then fall to 45 cents plus VAT, around 36p, in July 2013 and 20 cents plus VAT (around 16p) in July 2014 – vastly cheaper than some UK providers' current European rates.
Orange, for example, charges £3.07 per MB if you want to surf the net in Europe, while Three's pre-EU ruling fee is £1.28 per MB.
But some of the new pricing plans are not straightforward , with some only available to contract customers, leaving pay-as-you-go users facing higher costs, while others penalise light internet users.
Dominic Baliszewski from Broadband Choices said: "Even with these new lower costs, charges can quickly rack up. A £3 charge is still a lot if you're only using 1MB to quickly check your emails. A £3 data charge per day will cost £42 if used daily over a two week trip."
The EU rule does not affect the prices providers can charge for data roaming outside the European Union but from 1 July, people travelling further afield will at least get a warning text message, email or pop-up window from their mobile provider when they are nearing €50 of data downloads, or their pre-agreed level. Consumers will then have to confirm they are happy to go over this level in order to continue their data roaming.
3G war rages on, Vodafone cuts rates again in less than a month - Economic Times
The Indian arm of the British telco also claimed its new `pay as you go' (PAYG) price plan for prepaid users is the cheapest in the industry. At 2 paise/10 KB, it is an 80 per cent reduction from the existing rate of 10 paise/10 KB, making it a plan tailor-made for everyone".
"Our new PAYG price plan at 2 paise/10 KB is now the lowest in the industry, below the existing base rate of 3 paise/10 KB data plan," claimed a Vodafone India spokesman.
Last month, Vodafone had announced a mix of increased benefits and reduced rentals on data plans to remove imbalances between its 3G packs and its PAYG pricing. For instance, subscribers using the Rs 100 plan got a higher 300 MB data benefit instead of the earlier 200 MB. While heavy data users on the 1 GB and 2 GB plans saw their monthly rentals drop to Rs 250 and Rs 450 from Rs 375 and Rs 650 respectively.
But for usage levels beyond the stipulated data download quota on each plan, Vodafone India users will now pay Rs 2 paise/10 KB while there will be no additional charges for roaming.
"The new price plans, we believe, will induce people who shied away from 3G to experience the service without fear of a bill shock," said Vodafone India's chief commercial officer, Sanjoy Mukerji.
Over the past month, all leading telcos slashed 3G price plans to crank up market penetration and shore up revenue streams. Especially, since the actual number of 3G customers across the country remains at a shade over 20 million, effectively below 2% of the 900 million-plus pan-India GSM subscriber base.
Bharti Airtel had set the ball rolling by cutting 3G tariffs by upto 70 % for prepaid subscribers. Soon after, Idea, Vodafone, Rcom, Aircel and Tata Teleservices followed suit to bring in the volumes.
The continuing 3G price war comes even as telcos are up in arms over sector regulator Trai's recent recommendations on the airwaves auction and have warned that tariffs could surge by 100% if the government accepts its proposals. The industry move also counters joint efforts by all operators to raise voice tariffs over the last 12 months.
All mobile phone companies have raised voice call rates by 20-40% over the past year and further hikes are scheduled over the next couple of months.
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