Vodafone Idea Limited or IDEA

Idea cellular which is also a part of the Aditya Birla group is also one of India's leading GSM mobile services operator. This telecom company has licenses that operate in all the 22 service areas. Currently, it is serving in about 13 circles. The Idea Cellular also has a value-added service such as GPRS, and call conference, and GSM, and GPS, and also it provides some of the customized solutions according to the business-specific requirements. It has a potential customer base of about 98 million as of August 2011, and it is also among the top 25 telecom companies in India and overseas. Through mergers as well as acquisitions, it has received the secure service areas for all the mobile operations. In January 2001, it also merged with the Tata Cellular which had a service area in Andhra Pradesh. In June 2001, via its acquisition of RPG Cellcom, it also received the Madhya Pradesh service area. In January 2004, it received certain service areas of Haryana, and Uttar Pradesh, and Kerala through its acquisition of the Escotel Mobile Communication or Escotel. Lastly, in 2006, it became part of the Aditya Birla Group and acquired a 40.8% stake in Spice Communication. The Idea has a network of over 70,000 cell sites covering the entire length and breadth of the country. The Idea has over 3,000 Service Centers who are servicing the Idea subscribers across the country, and it also includes 450 special Experience Zones for the 3G promotion. The Idea's service delivery platform is ISO 9001:2008 certified which only makes the only operator in the country have such type of standard certification for all of its 22 service areas as well as the corporate office.

Some of the Milestones:

1. 2010:

The Idea won 3G Spectrum in 11 service areas in India.

2. 2011:

• It was the first operator to announce the launch of a Mobile Number Portability which has been the Top gainer since the service was started.
• It launched 3G in 10 circles such as Andhra Pradesh, Gujarat, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Kerala, Jammu & Kashmir, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra and Goa, and Chattisgarh, and Uttar Pradesh (East), and Uttar Pradesh (West).
• It became the only operator in the country to have the ISO 9001:2008 certification for its various services delivery platform for all the 22 service areas and the other corporate office.

3. 2012:

Won back Spectrum for seven circles for which the Supreme Court quashed licenses. The Idea wins at the prestigious World Communication Awards 2012, second year consecutively.

4. 2013:

• The Idea had launches the BlackBerry Z10 smartphone in India.
• The Idea introduces 'Speed Booster' plans for postpaid 3G data users.
• The Idea introduces a buffet plan for its postpaid subscribers.

Some of the recent developments of the Company:

The Idea Cellular has tied up with Taiwan's handset manufacturer named HTC which offers the two touch phone models targeting the premium section in India. These both Taiwan made models are known as the HTC Touch Pro, and HTC Touch Viva. They are based on the Windows mobile platform, which offers a beautiful touch screen experience for the users. It has launched EDGE enabled USB Data card 'Netsetter' for both the prepaid as well as the postpaid subscribers in Mumbai. So, this particular data card would be priced at INR 2,490. It will provide anywhere–anytime internet access and is only Data Card having compatibility with multiple operating systems such as Vista, Windows 2000, XP, and Mac.

Some of the Awards:

1. It also received the 'CARE' service in the 'Best Billing or Customer Care Solution' award at the GSM Association Awards in Barcelona, Spain.
2. The Idea Cellular won an award for the 'Bill Flash' service at the GSM Association Awards in Barcelona, Spain.
3. The Idea is the winner of 'The Emerging Company of the Year Award' at The Economic Times Corporate Excellence Awards
5. The IDEA Cellular also received the prestigious Avaya Global Connect Award for being the 'Most Customer Responsive Company' in the Telecom sector in 2010.
6. It won the GSM Association Award for the 'Best Billing and Customer Care Solution' for two consecutive years. It is also awarded 'Mobile Operator of the Year Award – India' for the years 2008 and 2007 at the Annual Asian Mobile News Awards.