Low-cost Jio-Google 4G smartphone won’t impact, says Airtel

Kolkata: Bharti Airtel said the upcoming low-cost 4G smartphone from the Reliance Jio-Google combine won’t hurt its revenues as 2G device users, typically, upgrade to smartphones priced above Rs 7,000 and prefer the Sunil Mittal-led telco’s mobile network.

India’s No 2 telco, in fact, expects the advent of the Jio-Google budget smartphone to trigger customer upgrades from feature phones to smartphones, which would end up complementing Airtel’s strategy of focusing on quality customers with world-class services. Airtel has been refarming its 2G and 3G airwaves for 4G services and has been pushing its feature phone users to go 4G.