The competition in 4G phone market in India is about to intensify as the country’s biggest mobile phone company Bharti Airtel is gearing up to counter Reliance Jio with its own 4G mobile device bundled with new offers to lock-in customers. According to sources, Airtel is in talks with multiple 4G mobile phone manufacturers in India and China. The talks, which are at advanced level, is about launching 4G phone at Rs 2,500 by Diwali to counter the upcoming Reliance Jio 4G Phone.
Airtel is planning to bundle a lot more data, voice calls and with the device to make the offer more lucrative and competitive enough to challenge the growing influence of Reliance Jio. The device will be powered by Android OS and will have all the features of Google Play including downloading and installing an app.
Airtel is expected to launch the device either by the end of September or early October to make the most of the upcoming festive season.
However, the name of the manufacturer is not known yet. According to sources, the device would be manufactured by multiple companies in India and China.
Airtel is leaving no stone unturned to compete with Reliance Jio which has shaken grounds for all the telco companies in India. After introducing 4G data services at dirt cheap price, the company recently announced to launch its own 4G mobile handset at just Rs. 1,500, named JioPhone.
The ongoing tug of war between Bharti Airtel and Reliance Jio is to acquire a sizable share of 2G mobile users base in India. Out of 1.19 billion mobile subscribers, only 450 million use smartphone, and nearly 40% of those are still hooked to 2G connection. It’s clearly visible that opportunity window for 4G mobile data service provider in India is quite big. By offering bundled 4G handsets to mobile users at dirt cheap price, telcos are trying to lock in users for few years.
Airtel, along with other telcos in India, which seems to be losing grounds to Reliance Jio too fast is embracing unconventional methodologies of marketing now. Not only the company dropped its tariffs by 91% since the launch of Reliance Jio, the decision to get involved in the mobile handset business is a clear indication how desperate the company is to keep its market share secured.
Consequently, Bharti Airtel has decided to launch more advanced 4G mobile device than Reliance Jio. The 4G mobile handset of Airtel will reportedly have a bigger screen, high-resolution camera and better battery performance. Airtel believes that mobile users in India have already experienced and visualised the true potential of the fast mobile internet, therefore need a price effective 4G device that could offer much more than a smart 4G feature phone Reliance Jio has promised.
