Reliance Jio seems to be gearing up to migrate its 4G feature phone users to smartphones and also lure 2G users from rival companies like Vodafone Idea and Bharti Airtel. According to the ET Telecom news, the telco is planning to soon launch its Jio exclusive smartphones in India with a partnership with smartphone manufacturer brand Vivo. The company is also said to offer benefits like free access to OTT platforms, discounts, one-time screen replacement, shopping benefits, and more among the others.
Reliance Jio to Launch 4G Smartphones Soon
Furthermore, the report suggests that Reliance Jio is also in talks to local manufacturers like Karbonn, Lava, and some of the other Chinese smartphone brands. Two familiar people with the matter told ET that the company is targeting smartphones at a price point to Rs 8,000 or below.
Earlier it was reported that Jio inked a collaboration with iTel, a Chinese smartphone maker to launch 4G smartphones in India ranging at Rs 3,000- 4,000. The handsets are yet to hit the Indian market. Jio has been working with Flex for its JioPhone series and now the company plans to launch a low-cost 4G device in collaboration with Google, which might take time.
“The handset bundling and the related handset subsidies and other benefits are geared towards increasing Jio’s share of gross adds to the market and, more importantly, retaining existing Jio 4G feature phone users whose contracts are coming up for expiry in the coming months,” Ashwinder Sethi, Principal at Analysys Mason, told ET.
According to the analysts, the latest moves by Jio will help the company to increase the gross subscriber additions. India is a country with 350 million feature phone users, and that is a huge number and a massive opportunity for Jio to grab.
Reports also suggest that Bharti Airtel is also in talks with smartphone vendors like Lava, Vivo, and Karbonn for the development of low-cost 4G smartphones. Let’s see what other telcos are going to do to hold their position in the telecom industry.
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