Airtel partners with device manufacturers to offer 4G smartphones for the price of a feature phone

Chandigarh, October 11, 2017: Bharti Airtel (“Airtel”), India’s largest telecommunications services provider, and Karbonn Mobiles, a popular Indian smartphone brand, today announced a partnership to bring an affordable 4G smartphone to the market, effectively at the price of a feature phone. This is the first of several partnerships that Airtel plans to have with mobile handset manufacturers to bring highly affordable bundled 4G smartphone options to the market and fulfill the digital aspirations of millions of Indians.

Raj Pudipeddi, Director – Consumer Business & CMO, Bharti Airtel said, “As the market leader and pioneer of 4G services in India, Airtel’s aspiration is to digitally empower every Indian with high speed data access. We are delighted to partner with Karbonn to remove barriers to smartphone adoption and enable millions of Indians to leapfrog to a full touchscreen smartphone experience. We plan to partner with multiple manufacturers to bring affordable smartphone options to the market and build an ‘open ecosystem’ of low cost devices. This is yet another step in our ongoing journey to deeply understand customers and bring innovation that delights them.”