Airtel takes on Jio with Rs 1,399 phone
Tribune News Service
New Delhi, October 11
Airtel and Karbonn Mobiles today announced a partnership to launch an affordable 4G smartphone, effectively at the price of a feature phone.
Airtel said, under the partnership, the Karbonn A40 Indian would come at an effective price of just Rs 1,399 (compared to its current market price of Rs 3,499).
The Google-certified Karbonn A40 Indian has a full touch screen plus dual SIM slots, and offers complete access to all apps on Google Play Store, including YouTube, Facebook and WhatsApp.
“The customer needs to make a down-payment of Rs 2,899 for the 4G smartphone and make 36 continuous monthly recharges of Rs 169. The customer will get a cash refund of Rs 500 after 18 months and another Rs 1,000 after 36 months, taking the total cash benefit to Rs 1,500,” the Airtel statement said explaining its claim of Rs 1,399 effective pricing.
Consumers can go in for recharge of any denomination and validity as per individual requirements in case they do not want to go for Rs 169 bundled plan under offer. But the cash refund benefit is contingent on consumer going in for recharges worth Rs 3,000 within the first 18 months (to claim the first refund instalment of Rs 500) and additional Rs 3,000 over the next 18 months (for second refund instalment of Rs 1000), it added.
