Airtel 3g services launched in Karnataka

Airtel has launched 3g services in karnataka on Monday. Airtel is the second private operator to launch 3g services in India. TATA Docomo was the first operator to launch 3g services in India. TATA Docomo launched its services in November 2010. Vodafone is planning to roll out their 3g services very soon and so are the other operators. 3g services of state owned telecom companies BSNL and MTNL are already operational for some time now.

Airtel is planning to expand its 3g services in all 13 circles in which it has won the 3g specturm by March. They intend to cover 40 cities by March 2011 and 1500 cities by March 2012. In the circles where they dont have 3g license, they are in talks with other operators with 3g license for spectrum sharing. Airtel will soon launch 3g USB Dongles for internet access from a pc or laptop.

Though different plans are announced, the much wanted "unlimited plan" is missing. 3g enables fast downloads, online hd gaming, live video/audio streaming etc etc. If one has to put 3g to real use, the 1gb data will hardly last a week. With these prices, This is not going to replace traditional broadband as many have thought, not at least till the prices drop.

Here are the tariff plans announced.

1. Sachet Plan - Rs.9, Valid for 1 day and free data allowance of 10MB

2. Sachet Plan - Rs.60, Valid for 3 days and free data allowance of 65MB

3. Standard Plan - Rs.103, Valid for 30 day and free data allowance of 100MB

4. Standard Plan - Rs.200, Valid for 30 day and free data allowance of 250MB

5. Standard Plan - Rs.450, Valid for 30 day and free data allowance of 600MB

6. Standard Plan - Rs.750, Valid for 30 day and free data allowance of 2GB

*In the above plans, charges of 30paise/20kb is applicable after the free allowance limit is complete.

7. FlexiShield Plan - Rs.675, Valid for 30 days and free data allowance of 1.25GB. This is an interesting plan. After crossing 1.25GB download limit, the subscriber will be charged at 1paise/100kb, i.e., approximately Rs.100/gb. Once the total of this billing reaches Rs.2000/- in a month , the speed limit will be reduced to a mere 20kbps, but the subcriber will be allowed unlimited download thereafter. So For Rs.2000/- you get 1.25GB + approximately 13GB + unlimited downloads at 20kbps thereafter.

Below are volume based plans

8. 3G Value Plan(Prepaid) - Rs.13, valid for 20 days and charged at 15paise/20kb

9. Value Plan(Postpaid) - Rs.20, valid for 30 days and charged at 15p/20kb

10. Pay as you go - Rs.0, no expiry and you pay 30paise/20kb

Below is the video calling plan

11. Video Calls - Video calls will be charged at 5paise/second. Same cost is applicable for Local, STD and Roaming calls.