The Intex made Reliance Jio VoLTE feature phone will launch in August and will be priced by Jio through a subsidy model
The much-awaited Reliance Jio VoLTE enabled feature phone will be manufactured by Intex. Reliance Jio has signed Intex as a vendor for making the device. The device will be co-developed by both the companies and will be made in India. The handset will be priced and marketed by Jio through a subsidy model.
“We will launch this 4G feature phone in this quarter, but will not be selling it standalone in the market. We are in dialogue with Reliance Jio for bundling which should be through very soon. The pricing will be decided by Jio as it will be on the subsidised system only,” Nidhi Markanday, Director and Business Head, Intex Technologies, told Economic Times.
It looks like Intex will not be the only manufacturer for Jio phones. According to the ET report, Jio “will be sourcing such phones from multiple vendors, including device makers in China”.
The ET report goes on to say, “Brokerage HSBC has recently said that Jio is likely to price its 4G feature phone at Rs 500 (sub-$8) to lure 2G subscribers to directly switch to 4G, which implies “Jio subsidising each handset by as much as $10-15 (Rs 650-975)”.”
There are 400 million feature phone users in the country and it looks like Jio is targeting them with an attractive proposition. ET had earlier reported that Jio had placed a total order of 18-20 million 4G VoLTE feature phones with some key Chinese manufacturers.
Source: Economic Times
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