In a move to curb Jio Phone effect, Idea cellular-Vodafone duo has announced its plan to produce the cheapest smartphone ever. The Idea and Vodafone merge on cards and will be done soon, and now the duo is targeting its major rival jio phone with the cheapest smartphone in India.
The Aditya Birla Group led Idea confirmed that it has no plans to provide subsidy on handsets. The tradition of telecom operators working with handset makers started with Reliance Infocomm back in 2003. Post jio phone announcement, the feature phone segment is been eyed by the telecom operators. Also, they found the bundled handset plans are the best possible way to attract users.
Reliance Jio Phone Beta Testing Begins from August 15: Interested Users Can Register at Jio.com
“The practical solution that we are working on is to work with the handset industry and work with them to be able to bring down cost of handsets by bringing down the bill of material, so that the gap of the announced price of Jio feature phone versus a smart-phone can be brought down to reasonable levels,” says, Himanshu Kapania, Managing Director, Idea cellular.
Kapania claimed that the handset would be the cheapest smartphone in India under Rs.3000. It is believed that this Jio phones can disturb the segment larger volumes. Also, Kapania unveils that the affordable phone will allow the customers to choose between 2G and 4G networks. The company is working up on the features, OS, and display that can be bought down in the smartphone.
This new era of 4G feature phones will bring threat to both 2G phones users and handset makers. This brings the need for telecom operators to exercise on the needs of customers and distribution channels.
Recently announced Jio 4G feature phone is listed for Rs 1,500 which is a refundable deposit after a time span of 3 years. Also, Airtel has announced its move to launch 4G feature phone last week. Now, this Idea-Vodafone cheapest smartphone will add more value to the segment buyers.
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