Airtel back to drawing board to counter JioPhone Next; considering co-branded bundled smartphone

New Delhi: Bharti Airtel is considering co-branded deals with handset makers and bundled data and voice offers to bring down the effective price of a smartphone, as the company seeks to ringfence its 2G subscribers ahead of the JioPhone Next launch.

The Sunil Mittal-led telecom operator, however, is clear that it wants to avoid the handset subsidy game as opposed to rival Reliance Jio, which is expected to heavily subsidise the JioPhone Next to keep the price low in a bid to entice Airtel and Vodafone Idea’s 2G users, people familiar with the matter said.

Airtel has floated a request for proposal for handsets and manufacturers including Lava, Karbonn and HMD Global have shown interest and are ready with possible devices and specifications, they said.