In order to keep up with the growing rise of Jio, Airtel has decided to rival the JioPhone which was recently announced. Airtel has announced a partnership with Indian smartphone manufacturers for its ‘Mera Pehla 4G Smartphone’ initiative. First phone to come our of this initiative is in association with Karbonn, called the Karbonn A40 Indian. The smartphone is said to be available at an ‘effective price of Rs 1399’, clearly taking on the JioPhone with the same terminology.
Talking about the new initiative, Airtel has said that:
This initiative is aimed at enabling every Indian to buy a 4G smartphone and get on to the digital superhighway. This initiative will bring highly affordable bundled 4G smartphone options to the market and fulfill the digital aspirations of millions of Indians.
Raj Pudipeddi, Director – Consumer Business & CMO, Bharti Airtel said:
As the market leader and pioneer of 4G services in India, Airtel’s aspiration is to digitally empower every Indian with high speed data access. We are delighted to partner with Karbonn to remove barriers to smartphone adoption and enable millions of Indians to leapfrog to a full touchscreen smartphone experience. We plan to partner with multiple manufacturers to bring affordable smartphone options to the market and build an ‘open ecosystem’ of low cost devices. This is yet another step in our ongoing journey to deeply understand customers and bring innovation that delights them.
Airtel explained how the Karbonn A40 Indian, a smartphone which was launched in July and has a market price of Rs 3499, will be available at an ‘effective price’ of Rs. 1,399. Customers will have to make a down payment of Rs. 2899 for the device, and then make a minimum amount of recharges over the course of three years to receive cashbacks worth Rs 1500. To put things into perspective, users will need to make recharges worth at least Rs 3000 in the first 18 months to avail a Rs 500 cashback, and then make recharges worth at least Rs 3000 again over the next 18 months to avail a Rs 1000 cashback. Therefore, you are effectively paying Rs 1399 for the smartphone.
In its statement, Airtel mentioned that the phone will be with the customers and the users won’t have to return the phone to Airtel or Karbonn at any point to claim the cash benefit. S The A40 Indian is a smartphone, which means that it will have access to the Google Play Store and apps like Facebook, Instagram and more. These are the apps people use to spend their internet on, something that the JioPhone doesn’t have.
