India’s 4G feature phone market shipments up 63% in Q3, JioBharat leads: CLSA

NEW DELHI: Country’s fourth generation or 4G feature phone shipments were up 63% over the last quarter, led by oil-to-telecoms conglomerate Reliance Industries’ JioBharat phone.

“In feature phone shipments (up 15% QoQ to 20 million in 3QFY24), 4G feature phones were up 63% QoQ to 8.2 million mainly due to Reliance Jio’s 4G phone Jio Bharat fuelling growth,” brokerage firm CLSA said, adding that 4G feature phone shipments were down 61% from the peak of 21 million.

Reliance Jio’s 4G feature phone JioBharat, launched in July last year at Rs 999, boosted the feature phone segment volumes, especially in the latter half of 2023, according to analysts and market trackers.