Airtel takes on JioPhone, to offer 4G smartphone for ‘price’ of feature phone

Looking to take on Reliance Jio in the handset space, the country’s top telecom operator, Bharti Airtel, has partnered Karbonn Mobiles to offer a 4G smartphone at an “effective price” of ~1,399.

In a dig at Jio’s ~1,500 4Genabled feature phone, the Sunil Bharti Mittal-led company said its smartphone would be made available for the price of a feature phone. Airtel said this was the first of several partnerships it plans with handset manufacturers to bring affordable bundled 4G smartphone options to its customers .

In July, Jio had announced a 4G feature phone for a security deposit of ~1,500, returnable at the end of three years for a full refund, making the device virtually free for consumers.

“A customer needs to make a down-payment of ~2,899 for the 4G smartphone and make 36 continuous monthly recharges of ~169 each. The customer will get a cash refund of ~500 after 18 months and another ~1,000 after 36 months, taking the total cash benefit to ~1,500,” the Airtel statement said, explaining its claim of ~1,399 “effective pricing”. In case a customer does not wish for the ~169 bundled plan, recharges of any denomination and validity can be done, but for a refund, recharges worth ~3,000 must be done within the first 18 months (for first refund of ~500) and another ~3,000 over the next 18 months (for the second refund of ~1,000). A consumer will not need to return the handset to Airtel or Karbonn at any point to claim refund. The Android-based 4G smartphone, Karbonn A40 Indian, has dual SIM slots and popular apps.