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Tata Cellular, Foodworld tie up for Freedom Cards

V. Rishi Kumar

HYDERABAD, Feb. 25

IN a move that will bring in a new retailing platform in the cellular industry, Tata Cellular has joined hands with Foodworld, a retailing major in the South, to market the new Freedom Cards across their outlets. These cards are pre-paid recharge coupons .

The Vice-President, Marketing, Tata Cellular, Mr. Ajay Pandey, told Business Line that the tie-up with Foodworld was part of the company's efforts to fulfill a promise to reach out to customers at places they shop regularly. ``We expect about 15 per cent of our business to come in through such retail marketing exercise,'' he said.

Consequent to this tie-up, Foodworld will display and sell the new Freedom rechargeable coupons at all its outlets in the State. To begin with, all the nine Foodworld outlets in the twin cities of Hyderabad and Secunderabad will stock and sell the Tata C ellular Freedom Card recharge coupons.

Mr. Sourabh Chandra, Controller-Operations, Foodworld, said, ``We are happy to join hands with Tata Cellular, the leaders in cellular communications in Andhra Pradesh. The tie-up validates our value-for-money proposition and is another step towards being the only complete supermarket.''

Tata Cellular has been encouraged by the overwhelming response to the new Freedom pre-paid service, with nearly 10,000 coupons being sold in under three months of the launch. The arrangement with Foodworld represents a quantum leap in the reach of the Fr eedom prepaid coupons.

``While enabling us to reach directly at the outlets they visit regularly, it reiterates the Tata Cellular's commitment to create newer distribution channels for the benefit of the customers,'' Mr. Pandey said.

In December, 1999, Tata Cellular had launched its Freedom prepaid card, which gives a customer a host of value-added features. Customers have the options of remote recharge, flexible price plans, a 24-hour voice prompt, no STD deposits and easy availabil ity.

In addition to these services, the Freedom Card plan comes with features such as instant activation, no bill, minimum documentation, and enables control of costs.