Vodafone launched in Himachal

Posted by NITYIN in People on December 14th, 2008 | 21 responses | 450 views

Vodafone rolled out it’s cellular service today (Monday, Dec 15) in Himachal. The company started operations in Shimla and Baddi in the first phase which will be gradually started all over the state. Vodafone Welcome SIM pack will cost Rs. 249/ with a life time validatity, talk time of Rs. 10/ and 340 SMS local & national. The welcome pack also includes a wrist watch for the new customers.

The company is offering a call rate of 20 paise per minute for Vodafone to Vodafone localcalls, 50 paise per minute for Vodafone to other local mobiles and 60 paise per minute for Vodafone to local land line calls. This will be available on a power top up of Rs. 39/ per month for pre paid customers in the state. Vodafone numbers will be available in 97360xxxxx series. More details will be available at the launch today at Shimla.

Till now the market leader Airtel has not been affected with the arrival of other companies in the state. Idea, Aircel and Reliance have massive distribution and technical problems and have not been able to reach the customers in proper fashion, one reason why Airtel has been acting cocky being a market leader for so long. BSNL, on the other hand has grown from strength to strength and it’s latest student pack has been a big hit . BSNL offers one of the best coverage in the entire state including the tribal districts.

Looking forward for a price war among mobile companies in Himachal. I am with Airtel for the past 7 years with 6 connections in the family and have not received a single thank you card/ gift / movie vouchers ever. I will be the first to switch over to Vodafone wagon.

Vodafone Himachal site is now live. Click here for more details.

Address of Vodafone Himachal:
Vodafone Essar Spacetel Limited, 130, Durga Cottage, SDA complex, Kasumpti, Shimla-171009
E-mail: vodafonecare.hp@vodafone.com

sunil

good opening..because Smart is not giving good service.

NITYIN: Absolutely Sunil. Smart is useless! A correction above to my post, Vodafone have gone live in ten districts barring Kinnaur and Lahul Spiti and the company is terming this as a soft launch
sunil

good opening..because Smart is not giving good service.

NITYIN: Absolutely Sunil. Smart is useless! A correction above to my post, Vodafone have gone live in ten districts barring Kinnaur and Lahul Spiti and the company is terming this as a soft launch
sunil

good opening..because Smart is not giving good service.

NITYIN: Absolutely Sunil. Smart is useless! A correction above to my post, Vodafone have gone live in ten districts barring Kinnaur and Lahul Spiti and the company is terming this as a soft launch
Ankit

Airtel being cocky is absolutely true. If you see, the prices on Airtel are very high and their roaming charges are also very high. Other mobile companies in Himachal are second rate companies and have not been able to provide good services. Airtel does have a good network coverage and all other companies could not match it’s standards. BSNL has good coverage but then purchasing a SIM from their local office and getting through customer care is not easy. Vodafone can be a good alternate to Airtel

NITYIN: If BSNL could outsource it’s marketing and customer care to some professional company, no one can beat it in Himachal. If wishes were horses…..
Ankit

Airtel being cocky is absolutely true. If you see, the prices on Airtel are very high and their roaming charges are also very high. Other mobile companies in Himachal are second rate companies and have not been able to provide good services. Airtel does have a good network coverage and all other companies could not match it’s standards. BSNL has good coverage but then purchasing a SIM from their local office and getting through customer care is not easy. Vodafone can be a good alternate to Airtel

NITYIN: If BSNL could outsource it’s marketing and customer care to some professional company, no one can beat it in Himachal. If wishes were horses…..
Rishi Thakur

As long as Vodafone do not offer freebees like free talk time, it will stay in reckoning. Aircel tried the same earlier and it’s network got jammed as people would be continuously on phone. Reliance has the same problem, as Reliance to Reliance calls are free and their network remains busy. Airtel and BSNL had refrained from such marketing gimmicks and that is one reason their network never jams. Vodafone is expected to raise the quality bar in the state. I think the govt. should make it mandatory for these cell companies to give full coverage in Kinnaur and Lahul Spiti.

NITYIN: Agree to your point. Freebees are ok to an extent to attract customers but then difficult to retain them. Airtel has been able to retain it’s customers for so long because of the quality of service it gives and Vodafone will have to rather exceed here if it has to become sustainable. Market in Himachal is saturated and unless someone gives better services than Airtel there is no scope for any other player.
Rishi Thakur

As long as Vodafone do not offer freebees like free talk time, it will stay in reckoning. Aircel tried the same earlier and it’s network got jammed as people would be continuously on phone. Reliance has the same problem, as Reliance to Reliance calls are free and their network remains busy. Airtel and BSNL had refrained from such marketing gimmicks and that is one reason their network never jams. Vodafone is expected to raise the quality bar in the state. I think the govt. should make it mandatory for these cell companies to give full coverage in Kinnaur and Lahul Spiti.

NITYIN: Agree to your point. Freebees are ok to an extent to attract customers but then difficult to retain them. Airtel has been able to retain it’s customers for so long because of the quality of service it gives and Vodafone will have to rather exceed here if it has to become sustainable. Market in Himachal is saturated and unless someone gives better services than Airtel there is no scope for any other player.
Rishi Thakur

As long as Vodafone do not offer freebees like free talk time, it will stay in reckoning. Aircel tried the same earlier and it’s network got jammed as people would be continuously on phone. Reliance has the same problem, as Reliance to Reliance calls are free and their network remains busy. Airtel and BSNL had refrained from such marketing gimmicks and that is one reason their network never jams. Vodafone is expected to raise the quality bar in the state. I think the govt. should make it mandatory for these cell companies to give full coverage in Kinnaur and Lahul Spiti.

NITYIN: Agree to your point. Freebees are ok to an extent to attract customers but then difficult to retain them. Airtel has been able to retain it’s customers for so long because of the quality of service it gives and Vodafone will have to rather exceed here if it has to become sustainable. Market in Himachal is saturated and unless someone gives better services than Airtel there is no scope for any other player.
sudhir chandel

one of main requirement for himachal is network coverage,as himachal has many tribal areas and if vodafone will manage to fulfill this challenge then no doubt vodafone will the himachal very soon.

NITYIN: Airtel has over thousand towers in the state. Among tribal areas it is available at Kalpa and Puh and very shortly coming up in Sangla. In Lahul it is available at Keylong and Udaipur and no presence in Spiti yet. Tribal areas of Chamba are almost fully covered by Airtel netwok. Vodafone is coming up with 400 towers in the state. It will have to invest a lot in making it’s infrastucture at par with Airtel.
sudhir chandel

one of main requirement for himachal is network coverage,as himachal has many tribal areas and if vodafone will manage to fulfill this challenge then no doubt vodafone will the himachal very soon.

NITYIN: Airtel has over thousand towers in the state. Among tribal areas it is available at Kalpa and Puh and very shortly coming up in Sangla. In Lahul it is available at Keylong and Udaipur and no presence in Spiti yet. Tribal areas of Chamba are almost fully covered by Airtel netwok. Vodafone is coming up with 400 towers in the state. It will have to invest a lot in making it’s infrastucture at par with Airtel.
sudhir chandel

one of main requirement for himachal is network coverage,as himachal has many tribal areas and if vodafone will manage to fulfill this challenge then no doubt vodafone will the himachal very soon.

NITYIN: Airtel has over thousand towers in the state. Among tribal areas it is available at Kalpa and Puh and very shortly coming up in Sangla. In Lahul it is available at Keylong and Udaipur and no presence in Spiti yet. Tribal areas of Chamba are almost fully covered by Airtel netwok. Vodafone is coming up with 400 towers in the state. It will have to invest a lot in making it’s infrastucture at par with Airtel.
Dheeraj Chauhan

Operators with all India presence should not charge for roaming in other states. What is the point of charging roaming calls if one happens to be on the same netwok of the same company? Mobile companies should show more pragmatism on this issue. TRAI also needs to step in.

NITYIN: I still have no idea why I am charged roaming charges on Airtel network outside Himachal Pradesh. The govt owned BSNL should take a lead here. If they stop charging roaming charges, others will just follow.
Dheeraj Chauhan

Operators with all India presence should not charge for roaming in other states. What is the point of charging roaming calls if one happens to be on the same netwok of the same company? Mobile companies should show more pragmatism on this issue. TRAI also needs to step in.

NITYIN: I still have no idea why I am charged roaming charges on Airtel network outside Himachal Pradesh. The govt owned BSNL should take a lead here. If they stop charging roaming charges, others will just follow.
Manish

it’s been 3 months that i ve been in himachal & was really sad when i heard about non functioning of vodafone….now i am quite happy that i ll be with my old friend vodafone…. which accompanying me for the last 3 years……
Manish

it’s been 3 months that i ve been in himachal & was really sad when i heard about non functioning of vodafone….now i am quite happy that i ll be with my old friend vodafone…. which accompanying me for the last 3 years……
Sunil

Anyone Know the address of Vodafone
Office Shimla.
pls provide me.

Sunil
9817054349
Sunil

Anyone Know the address of Vodafone
Office Shimla.
pls provide me.

Sunil
9817054349
Rohit Lamba

Vodafone has a good network as i am vodafone user from last 2 years in Punjab…..and hope that the same services will be provided in Himachal Too with Better Schemes..and looking forward to have a Vodafone Connection in Himachal also…..
Rohit Lamba

Vodafone has a good network as i am vodafone user from last 2 years in Punjab…..and hope that the same services will be provided in Himachal Too with Better Schemes..and looking forward to have a Vodafone Connection in Himachal also…..
http://nityin.wordpress.com/ NITYIN

Vodafone seems to heading the same way the other operators (other than Airtel & BSNL) have gone. It’s been almost 3 months of the launch and still the coverage issue has not been settled. In Shimla, the company doesn’t have any coverage in the Shimla hills. One of the main reason people are not buying connections here as majority of the people keep shuffling between Shimla and their villages in the hills. One ‘source’ told me that most of Voda towers are running on gen-sets and still have not been allowed electricity connections. Vodafone seems to be taking a huge hit here as running these towers 24×7 on diesel gen set costs money!! Plus the load factor is almost nil on these towers. The same source hinted about retrenchment of some of it’s employees too is on the cards. There seems to be an interesting marketing strategy being developed by another rival telecom company. One of the retailer told me this company is taking away all the stock of Vodafone and exchanging it with their SIM cards. The retailers are too happy to dump Vodafone stock as no one seems to be buying the Voda stock and the retailers are recovering back their money by selling stock of rival company.

VF will have to improve it’s infrastructure in rural areas first and then only will people in the cities/town will buy their connections. Tough times ahead for Voda.
http://nityin.wordpress.com NITYIN

Vodafone seems to heading the same way the other operators (other than Airtel & BSNL) have gone. It’s been almost 3 months of the launch and still the coverage issue has not been settled. In Shimla, the company doesn’t have any coverage in the Shimla hills. One of the main reason people are not buying connections here as majority of the people keep shuffling between Shimla and their villages in the hills. One ‘source’ told me that most of Voda towers are running on gen-sets and still have not been allowed electricity connections. Vodafone seems to be taking a huge hit here as running these towers 24×7 on diesel gen set costs money!! Plus the load factor is almost nil on these towers. The same source hinted about retrenchment of some of it’s employees too is on the cards. There seems to be an interesting marketing strategy being developed by another rival telecom company. One of the retailer told me this company is taking away all the stock of Vodafone and exchanging it with their SIM cards. The retailers are too happy to dump Vodafone stock as no one seems to be buying the Voda stock and the retailers are recovering back their money by selling stock of rival company.

VF will have to improve it’s infrastructure in rural areas first and then only will people in the cities/town will buy their connections. Tough times ahead for Voda.

Vodafone launched in Himachal

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