Idea to join Reliance Jio, will roll out VoLTE services this year

After introducing Digital India by launching three new apps yesterday, Idea is now planning to introduce VoLTE (Voice over LTE) services across all 4G circles this year. In the launch event yesterday, Managing Director Idea Cellular, Himanshu Kapania confirmed that the company is planning to roll out VoLTE within this year.

As of now, Reliance Jio is the standalone telecom operator that offers VoLTE service to its customers. Although previous rumours claimed that Vodafone, Airtel and Idea are planning to roll out VoLTE services, it seems like Idea Cellular is likely to go ahead first. Interestingly, as per a report yesterday, Vodafone is in talks with Aditya Birla Group for a possible merger with Idea Cellular. The merger will then make the two telecom giants a combined unit capturing a market share of about 43 percent. Not only this, the subscriber count for the merged entity will then amount to near 39 crores which are way more than Airtel’s 27 crores and Jio’s 7.2 Crore.

Idea Cellular also claimed that it will be launching 4G services in 9 more circles apart from the current 11 circles by March 2017. The telecom operator, right now, offers 3G services across 21 circles and will expand its services in Rajasthan and Bihar.

Coming back to the Digital Idea which went live yesterday, Idea Cellular has launched three new apps namely Idea Music Lounge, Idea Movie Club and Idea Game Spark. The launch was embraced by the Managing Director of Idea Cellular, Himanshu Kapania along with few senior executives from Aditya Birla Group and Idea Cellular. All the three apps combined will offer the best range of digital entertainment, claims Idea. The new apps will bring in content in Hindi, Vernacular and International languages and serve around 200 million current Idea customers. As a part of the Introductory offer, post sign-in of all the three apps till 31st March 2017, 90 days of free subscription will be available.