Earlier, Idea launched a Rs 595 prepaid plan. Under Idea's Rs 595 plan, users can get 10GB of data for a validity period of 112 days. After reaching the data limit, the user will be charged 4p/10KB for using data. Apart from this, free unlimited video calls are also available under the plan. However, it must be noted that the voice calls are capped at 250 minutes per day and up to 1,000 minutes weekly.

Meanwhile, In an effort to compete with Reliance Jio, Vodafone has now refreshed its prepaid plan for Rs 47.

The new plan will offer 125 minutes of local and STD voice calling, along with 50 local and national SMS messages, and 500MB of 3G/ 4G data. The validity period of the plan is 28 days. Earlier, this pack would 1GB of 3G/4G data with a validity period of one day, without any calling or SMS benefits.

The government on Thursday gave final approval to the mega merger of Vodafone and Idea Cellular which will create the country's largest mobile operator with 35 per cent market share and around 430 million subscribers, news agency PTI reported.

The move comes just days after Idea Cellular and Vodafone India made a joint payment of Rs 7,268.78 crore 'under protest' to the Department of Telecom (DoT) for merging their mobile businesses.

A senior DoT official privy to the development told PTI, that the final approval has been accorded to the merger today and the entities will now approach Registrar of Companies (RoC) for stipulated filings for approval, completing the last leg of formalities.