The journey to the 10 million milestones has been phenomenal with Idea continuously adding customers and raising its market share in the mobility market. Between April ‘06 – August ‘06, Idea added the highest number of net adds among all operators in the Idea territory. In addition to the world-class customer care, Idea provides customers with a complete mobile experience synergizing innovative services with revolutionary and affordable tariffs.
On this landmark achievement, Mr. Vikram Mehmi, President & CEO, Idea Cellular Limited said, “It has been an incredible journey for not only us but also our 10 Million loyal customers to whom we owe our success. The last year has witnessed tremendous growth in the Telecom Sector and we are happy to have kept pace with this progress. Our Success goes beyond numbers and is attributed solely to understanding and anticipating customer requirements well in advance. This is demonstrated through the various advances in unique products and services that Idea has spearheaded over the last four years."
He further added that, “The advantage of being an Aditya Birla group company will also enable us to deliver superior value to our customers. The future will see many milestones based on our continued focus on innovations in service delivery and with our approach that the customer shall always remain FIRST in whatever we do”.
Idea over the years has been credited with many ‘firsts’ in the Indian telecom history, the largest M&A deal in India Inc, through its acquisition of Escotel in 2004, its Rs. 5,000 crores financial closure in 2003. It was the first to launch GPRS and EDGE in the country in addition to innovative products and services like Lifetime Idea, Women’s card, Idea Madhur, Background Tones, Group Talk among many others.
Idea brought in the first 5 million customers into its fold within a period of 8 years and 7 months (June ‘96 – Feb ‘05) followed by an explosive growth in which Idea added an additional 5 million customers in just 19 months (Feb ’05 – Sept ‘06).
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', ‘Background Tones’, ‘Group Talk’, 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 ‘Super Power’, 2 Minutes Outgoing Free, Lifelong offer and other segmented offerings like Women’s Card. ‘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. A brand known for their many firsts, Idea is the only operator to have launched GPRS and EDGE in the country.
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 this platform.
Idea Cellular is part of the Aditya Birla Group, which is India's first truly multinational corporation. Global in vision, rooted in Indian values, the group is driven by a performance ethic pegged on value creation for its multiple stakeholders.
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