Story by
Kaylene Hong
Kaylene Hong was Asia Reporter for The Next Web between 2013 and 2014, based in Singapore. She is bilingual in English and Mandarin. Stay in Kaylene Hong was Asia Reporter for The Next Web between 2013 and 2014, based in Singapore. She is bilingual in English and Mandarin. Stay in touch via Twitter or Google+.
Indian music streaming service Dhingana has inked a partnership with India’s third-largest mobile operator, Idea Cellular, to debut a music subscription service that lets users download unlimited music via offline caching with no data charges.
This benefit will only be shared with Android smartphone users though. Dhingana users on iOS already have a similar option to download unlimited songs, albums and playlists in HD quality and ad-free — known as Dhingana Gold, but it comes with a price tag of $1.99. Furthermore, iOS users will be charged for data.
Given that sales of low-end Android devices have been driving India’s ongoing adoption of smart mobile devices, it is little wonder that Idea has taken such a step as it seeks to retain its Android customers — and even attract new ones.
Dhingana’s downloads made by Idea customers will be encrypted on the Android device and the only way for subscribers to listen to them is via Dhingana’s Android app.
Feature phones won’t be left out too. Idea’s WAP subscribers will be able to stream music ad-free without any data charges.
In all, more than 127 million postpaid and prepaid users of Idea who use Android smartphones and WAP feature phones can get to download or stream unlimited music via Dhingana without any data charges.
Headline image via Shutterstock
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