Indian telecom operator Idea Cellular is planning to launch Android smartphones in the country to accelerate the 3G uptake. Company MD Himanshu Kapania revealed the plans at its Q2 earnings conference call.
According to MediaNama, Idea will be launching self-branded high-end Android smartphones at the affordable prices, but one important thing to note here is that company has no intension to subsidize these phones. So, if you were hoping for US, UK or Singapore type telco model here, you are out of luck.
Telecom operators in India normally provide reverse subsidy, in which you pay the full cost of the phone and take telco’s connection and in return company will give you existing plans for cheaper price thus resulting in savings, which is certainly not a very enticing model for consumers. CDMA operator MTS did try the normal subsidy model with HTC Pulse, but after that it has not launched another device making us think that it was not very successful. But there were other reasons for that too, the device was obsolete, and then CDMA network, normally Indians consumers prefer GSM with smartphones.
There is no word on when we will be seeing these smartphone launches from Idea in the country, but don’t worry, we will bring you all the information as and when that happens.
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