Company Press Release:
 
IDEA Crosses the 8 Million-subscriber base
 
Adds over 1 million subs in less than 3 months and aims to add 2 Million more by December 06
 
New Delhi, June 01, 2006: IDEA Cellular, India’s leading cellular operator, today announced it has crossed the 8 million customer milestone in its eight circle operation covering approximately 45% of the country’s cellular base. The journey to the 8 million landmark has been stupendous with Idea Cellular adding over 1 million subscribers in just 3 months and maintaining leadership positions in a majority of its operating circles.

“Commenting on the achievement, Mr. Vikram Mehmi, CEO, Idea Cellular Ltd said, “8-million happy customers are a proof of our deep understanding of consumer needs, the rush of innovative offerings for every customer segment to satisfy their needs, the overall improvement of our quality of service and performance record that Idea has established for itself. I would like to thank our customers across India for helping us achieve this milestone.”
 

Milestones Time Period
Dec 2003 3 Million 6 months
June 2004 4 Million 6 months 
Feb 2005 5 million 8 months 
Oct 2005 6 million 8 months 
Feb 2006 7 million 4 months
May 2006 8 million 3 months
 

 


About Idea Cellular:
As India’s leading GSM Mobile Services operator, IDEA Cellular has licenses to operate in 11 circles. With a customer base of over 8 million, IDEA Cellular has operations in Delhi, Mahrashtra, Goa, Gujarat, Andhra Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Chattisgarh, Uttaranchal, Haryana, UP- West and Kerala. IDEA Cellular’s footprint currently covers approximately 45% of India’s population and over 50% of the potential telecom-market.

As a leader in Value Added Services, Innovation is central to IDEA’s VAS Factory. It is the first cellular company to launch music messaging with ‘Cellular Jockey’, ‘Global SMS’ in over 540 networks across all technology platforms, a voice portal with ‘Say IDEA’ and a complete suite of Mobile Email Services. A frontrunner in introducing revolutionary tariff plans, IDEA Cellular has the distinction of offering the most customer friendly and competitive Pre Paid offerings, for the first time in India, with ‘Eco Talk’, ‘Flexi-charge’, ‘Super Power’, 2 Minutes Outgoing Free and other segmented offerings. ‘Lifetime Idea’ is the first and only loyalty program, for pre paid customers, introduced by a Cellular brand.

Customer Service and Innovation are the drivers of this Cellular Brand. Pay Easy which is bill payment through the effective use of the pre-paid channel, IDEA is the only operator in the world to launch this service With GPRS currently available on all its’ networks, for both pre and post paid customers, IDEA Cellular is the first company to commercially launch next generation EDGE technology (a 3G technology) for its Delhi circle.

The latest feather in the IDEA cap is the GSM Association Award for Bill Flash, it has recently won making it the first cellular operator in India to win an award on an international platform.

More about IDEA Cellular Ltd. at http://www.ideacellular.com