Sunday 15 October 2017

After Jio and Airtel, Vodafone/Idea plans to launch low cost 4G smartphone


After taking the telecom industry by storm by offering enticing data & calls offers to customers, Reliance Jio has also managed to create a stir for telecom operators to focus on affordable 4G smartphones.

To remind you, Airtel recently launched an entry-level 4G smartphone to take on JioPhone in partnership with Karbonn called A40 Indian at an effective price of Rs. 1,399 (plus 1,500 deposit). 

Now Vodafone and Idea Cellular are following suit and  are reportedly working on bringing ultra-affordable 4G smartphones to market to compete with Jio and Airtel.

Economic Times citing sources reports that Vodafone and Idea are in talks with domestic handset maker Lava and Karbonn to release smartphones, that will have an effective price of around or less than Rs. 1,500. The deal is said to get finalized before Diwali. Notably, Vodafone is already in partnership with itel, to offer the latter's customers talk time benefits.

Even though, Vodafone and Idea Cellular's handset's cost is said to be around Rs. 1,500, we can expect the telecos to charge extra towards security deposit, just like Airtel and Jio. That said, similar to Airtel and Jio, Vodafone/Idea will offer buyers enticing calling and data offers for customers.

The aim here is to capture the 500 million user base, who do not use smartphones by providing low cost affordable 4G handset and bundle them with attractive data and calling offers.

Meanwhile, Idea and Vodafone are also in the process of a mega-merger to create the country’s largest telecom operator.

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