Kochi, September 23, 2008: Vodafone Essar, one of India’s leading cellular service providers, today announced that its Lifelong Prepaid connection plan will now be available to customers in Kerala at just Rs.199. With this new and affordable plan from Vodafone, customers can stay connected for a lifetime and enjoy a talktime of Rs.10/-. All Vodafone bonus cards can be used along with the Lifelong Prepaid connection plan.

Suresh Kumar R, Senior Vice President, Vodafone Essar Kerala, said, “Vodafone has always endeavoured to bring innovative yet affordable service offerings to its customers. With our new Lifelong Prepaid plan, we aim to deliver a greater value for money plan for our customers in Kerala.”

About Vodafone Essar Limited
Vodafone Essar in India is a subsidiary of Vodafone Group Plc and commenced operations in 1994 when its predecessor Hutchison Telecom acquired the cellular license for Mumbai. Vodafone Essar now has operations in 16 circles covering 86% of India’s mobile customer base, with over 52.75 million customers*.

Over the years, Vodafone Essar, under the Hutch brand, has been named the ‘Most Respected Telecom Company’, the ‘Best Mobile Service in the country’ and the ‘Most Creative and Most Effective Advertiser of the Year’.

Vodafone is the world’s leading international mobile communications company. It now has operations in 25 countries across 5 continents and 40 partner networks with over 269 million customers worldwide.

Vodafone has partnered with the Essar Group as its principal joint venture partner for the Indian market. Essar Global Limited (EGL) is a diversified business group spanning the manufacturing and services sectors of Steel, Energy, Power, Communications, Shipping & Logistics, and Projects. EGL has an enterprise value of approximately USD 50 billion (INR 200,000 crore) and employs 30,000 people worldwide. The Company has operations and investments in India, Canada, USA, Africa, the Middle East, the Caribbean and South East Asia.

*Figures from Cellular Operators Association of India, August 31, 2008

For more information, please contact:

Sumana Bhat
Genesis Burson Marsteller
Vodafone: +91 99860 42940
Email: sumana.bhat@bm.com