Bharti Airtel to counter Jiophone with “mass market” phone

Mumbai: Bharti Airtel, country’s largest telecom operator in terms of subscriber base, is holding talks with a few handset makers as it wants to launch its own 4G smartphone before Diwali in October, according to a report in The Economic Times. The report cites sources at handset makers Lava and Karbonn as saying that manufacturers are talking with Airtel for a “mass market” phone.

The launch is seen in telecom circles as Airtel’s counter measure to take on rival Reliance Jio that has announced India’s cheapest feature phone for Rs 1,500. JioPhone will start coming in market by September whose beta testing has already started, Reliance Jio earlier said.

Like JioPhone that will come bundled with free voice calls and dirt cheap internet data packs, Airtel phone will also offer similar services. Airtel phone will be a Android phone, the report adds. “Telco will allow users to download all apps available on the Google Play app store,” ET quoted people familiar with the development as saying.

Bharti Airtel that has ruled India’s telecom market, it seems, is gradually losing ground as new entrant Reliance Jio with its lifetime free voice call and dirt cheap internet data packs has eaten into Airtel’s revenues.

Airtel reported a 72 per cent drop in its quarterly profit in May this year, a figure that was not at par with the estimates. Airtel’s net profit slumped from Rs 1,319 crore reported in March 2016 to Rs 373 crore reported in May 20174. Its revenue also dipped substantially. Its net profit had dropped by 55 per cent in quarter ended December 2016.

Airtel’s decreased revenue has been attributed to Reliance Jio’s arrival on India’s telecom landscape. Jio had launched its free services in September last year, initially for three month till December 2016. It later continued the free packs till March 2017.