After Bharti Airtel, Idea Cellular has formally reduced its third-generation (3G) mobile tariffs by up to 70 per cent in an attempt to increase its subscriber base.

''I am confident that new prices will generate a lot of trial and will drive offtake. Our new sachet packs of Rs10 and Hero-25 are aimed at youngsters who will access high speed internet on-the-go without worrying about the expense,'' Idea Cellular chief marketing officer Sashi Shankar said.

The Aditya Birla group company has slashed 3G tariffs with the intent of making 3G affordable to masses.

Under a new plan, Idea's pre-paid and post-paid customers will pay three paise for 10 KB of data, a reduction of 70 per cent from the earlier levels of 10 paise.

Idea Cellular also launched its new pricing in sachets, regular packs and unlimited packs to cater to different consumer segments. The lowest of the sachets will be sold for Rs10 and offer 30 minutes of high speed internet surfing on 3G enabled handsets.

Idea's 3G services are offered in 3,207 towns across the country and it has 2.7 million active users with an average usage of 330 MB per month.

Last week, the country's number one operator by subscribers, slashed 3G mobile broadband rates by up to 70 per cent, in a bid to increase data usages in the country.

The offer was for those customers who have not subscribed for 3G service, which provides average high internet speed of between 1 megabit per second to 2 mbps, under any special offer and want to use high speed internet as per their need.

The other 3G operators, including Vodafone India, Reliance Communications, Aircel and Idea Cellular among others, who had won 3G spectrum in 2011 auctions, are also likely to follow suit.