In a bid to take on Reliance Jio, Bharti Airtel on Wednesday announced its partnership with smartphone brand Karbonn to launch affordable 4G smartphone.
The company said it intends to have similar partnerships with other mobile handset makers to launch highly affordable bundled 4G smartphone options for Indian consumers.
In a statement, 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 touch-screen 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,” he added.
Under the partnership, Android-based 4G smartphone — Karbonn A40 Indian — has been launched at an effective price of ₹1,399. The 4G smartphone is bundled with a monthly pack of ₹169 from Airtel, and cash back benefits.
“The customer needs to make a downpayment of ₹2,899 for the 4G smartphone and make 36 continuous monthly recharges of ₹169. 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 company said in a statement.