Special Bonus Card of Rs. 36/- for prepaid customers

Chennai, December 20, 2007: Vodafone Essar, one of India’s leading cellular service providers, has announced special services for its prepaid customers in Tamil Nadu traveling to Sabarimala.

Sabarimala pilgrims from Tamil Nadu and Chennai can now recharge their prepaid Vodafone connections with this Rs. 36/- bonus card and avail special benefits while they are on roaming in Kerala. Under this scheme incoming calls rate will be Rs. 0.99/- per minute as against the existing roaming rate of Rs 1.75/- per minute. In addition to this, a special Sabarimala callertune is also available.

Kumar Ramanathan, Operations Director, Vodafone Essar – Chennai & Tamil Nadu, said, “Every year, millions pilgrims from Tamil Nadu travel to Sabarimala. At Vodafone, it is our priority to offer convenient services that will help our customers stay connected with friends and family during their pilgrimage.”

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 licence for Mumbai. Vodafone Essar now has operations in 16 circles covering 86% of India’s mobile customer base, with over 38.5 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 200 million customers worldwide. Vodafone has partnered with the Essar Group as its principal joint venture partner for the Indian market.

The Essar Group is a diversified business corporation with interests spanning the manufacturing and service sectors like Steel, Energy, Power, Communications, Shipping & Logistics and Construction. The Group has an asset base of over Rs.400 billion (US$ 10 billion) and employs over 20,000 people.

*Figures from Cellular Operators Association of India, November 30, 2007.

For more information, contact:

Rajbir Sidhu
Genesis Burson-Marsteller
Vodafone mobile no: +91 9899038936
email:rajbir.sidhu@bm.com