Idea Cellular Forays Into Ecommerce, Launches 3 New Apps

Mumbai-based Indian mobile network operator, Idea Cellular will soon launch its own ecommerce platform for mobile services and devices later this year.

According to Himanshu Kapania, Managing Director, Idea Cellular, the company is building an ecommerce platform, primarily for mobile services and mobile devices. Customers can order devices, dongles, music services, movie services, booster plans and more.  Himanshu also clarified that the Idea cellular will not venture into other areas of ecommerce.

Earlier in October 2016, Aditya Birla Group had launched abof.com, an online one-stop fashion portal for apparel, footwear and accessories.

Idea Cellular is an Aditya Birla Group Company. Idea is a pan-India integrated GSM operator offering 2G and 3G services, and has its own NLD and ILD operations, and ISP license.

As per its official website, the telecom firm has revenue market share of nearly 18.2% (as on Q4FY15) and subscriber base of over 165 Mn with revenue in excess of $5 Bn. Further, the firm claims to carry a traffic of over 2 Bn minutes a day.

In a bid to transform into a digital services provider, the telco-firm has also announced the launch of three apps —Music Lounge, Movie Club and Game Spark.

As per the firm, those who opt for their Idea Music Lounge, Idea Movie Club, and Idea Game Spark by March 31st 2017,  will get free introductory offer for the first 90 days. Post this, the subscriber has to pay INR 49 per month for listening to music and watching movies and INR 29 per month for playing mobile games.

With the launch of the service, the telco-firm aims to to increase usage of subscribers and revenue, which will be driven only by consumption.

The company also plans to work with Vijay Shekhar Sharma’s parent company One97 as they have inked an alliance with Paytm. Currently, Idea’s 4G services are available across 11 circles. The firm plans to expand its 4G services to nine more circles this year. Further, Idea Cellular aims to venture into entertainment, VoIP and IP-based calling and cloud and storage solutions in 2017. It has also made an announcement of launching its Payment Bank Idea Money this, year.

(This development was reported by ET)