Airtel, Jio hand out handset offers for 5G takeoff

In a bid to propel the uptake of 5G by consumers, Bharti Airtel and Reliance Jio are trying to make the handsets more affordable.

This is because India is a price sensitive market and mass adoption of 5G can happen only when the device cost falls below Rs 10,000, say industry executives and experts.

Bharti Airtel recently announced an exclusive partnership with smartphone company Poco, wherein the 5G smartphone price has been brought down to Rs 8,799 along with data bundling. It is also likely to come out with similar partnerships with other handset makers, people familiar with the matter said.


Reliance Jio, on its part, has been working alongside Reliance Retail to offer discounts on smartphones. As per industry executives, offers are in place every two-three months to boost sales of devices which come bundled with data and OTT subscription.

Bharti Airtel said it has partnerships with Poco, OnePlus, Xiaomi, Realme and Apple for 5G smartphones. Reliance Jio did not respond to an email seeking comment till the time of going to press Wednesday.

Wider adoption of 5G typically is expected to lead to higher data consumption and drive up average revenue per user for telecom firms, say analysts. And in the absence of headline tariff hikes, higher data usage is among the only options to push up the key operational metric.

To drive wider 5G adoption, Airtel also is expanding its store presence in tier-2 and -3 cities. “The company has launched new next-gen company-owned stores across multiple cities. These modern stores will strengthen Airtel's retail footprint, showcase Airtel's technologies across its portfolio, and elevate the service standards offered to customers,” India’s second largest telecom carrier said.

The company has increased its store count by more than 50% in the last around one year. “We had 1,000 stores in March 2023. These stores are mushrooming in every nook and corner of busy streets,” Airtel added.

Industry experts say Airtel stores could have reached over 1,500 after the ramp up.

As per Navkendar Singh, associate vice president with IDC India, while reverse bundling (telco-smartphone firm partnership) has always been there in the India market by all telcos in some form, the latest Airtel-Poco tie up is a new partnership of its kind.

“What is interesting this time with the Poco-plus-Airtel offer is that it is trying to drive the adoption of 5G devices in the mass price segment of less than Rs 10,000,” Singh said.

Because of the partnership, some other brands may also see similar or more interesting consumer offers with telcos and other financing options, he said. “It can really help in driving the 5G smartphone penetration in India, and possibly lead the market on a growth path,” he said.

Airtel has around 65 million 5G users on its network, while Jio has 90 million. As per Gopal Vittal, Bharti Airtel’s managing director, the contribution of 5G users to the overall smartphone base is still low. “It's about 15% to 16%. We expect that by March 2025, industry will see about 25% of smartphones which are 5G enabled,” he had said.

Further, monetisation of 5G at the consumer level is yet to start with users accessing the data free. “Unfortunately, 5G has become really about free data today in India, so there is no real monetisation on the consumer side,” Vittal said recently during an analyst call.