Bharti Airtel Planning to Introduce 4G VoLTE Enabled Affordable Smartphone to Boost ARPU

According to a new report spotted online, Sunil Bharti Mittal led telco, Bharti Airtel might be on to new plans to convert its already existing 2G subscriber base into 4G subscribers with the help of a new 4G smartphone. This move is similar and in line to what Reliance Jio did in its bid to increase the number of subscribers. To recall, Reliance Jio had launched a very affordably priced JioPhone, a feature phone with 4G connectivity which appealed to a lot of buyers out there. However, Airtel will be taking a different path and won’t introduce a feature phone but instead will be introducing an affordably priced smartphone. Also, to recall, this would not be the first time that Airtel introduces a cheaply priced smartphone. Last year, the private telecom operator had partnered up with Karbonn to launch the A40 smartphone priced at Rs 1,399 which is as affordable as the JioPhone.

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Bharti Airtel 4G Smartphone Price

According to a Financial Express report, a senior Bharti Airtel officer informed that the company is in talks with many manufacturers to come up with a 4G VoLTE compatible handset. However, there is going to be a substantial difference between the way of Reliance Jio and Bharti Airtel, since unlike Reliance Jio which offers subsidies to its manufacturers, Airtel won’t be doing the same. Instead, the telecom operator will be offering cashbacks to lower the price of its 4G enabled smartphone.

As per the new report, we can expect the smartphone to be priced around the Rs 2,000 to Rs 2,500 price tag. However, combined with the cashback which Airtel will offer with its smartphone, the handset’s effective price is expected to remain in the sub Rs 2,000 range, making it similar in pricing to the last year’s device. More information is not available at the time of writing. However, it is pretty clear that this new smartphone by Airtel will cover pretty essential functions and will not ship any fancy hardware or design.