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After acquiring nearly 50,000 customers, Reliance Communications is set to make bundled offers on Apple’s new iPhone models, again. The telecom company had to pause the offer after initial stocks had sold out.
Apple is now supplying large stocks of the iPhones to Reliance from December 10 to cater to the demand for Reliance's Unlimited iPhone Offer
2-year scheme In November, RCom had announced a two-year contract scheme, which offers the 16GB iPhone 5c and iPhone 5s at a zero upfront cost. To sweeten the deal, the telecom company is offering unlimited voice calls, SMS and 3G data for a fixed monthly fee of Rs 2,599 and Rs 2,999 for the 5C and 5S models, respectively.
The subscriber will be locked-in to RCom’s network under the two-year contract. About 50,000 users pre-booked the device but paucity of handset shipments led to a waiting list. Reliance Online Store is now selling iPhone 5S with confirmed and guaranteed delivery commencing December 12 to December 17 after Apple agreed to ship more devices.
Reliance is extending the current introductory prices of Rs 2,599 for iPhone 5C and Rs 2,999 for iPhone 5s for all confirmed orders placed on their online store by December 8. After this date, the prices will be revised upwards. The price is likely to be increased by around Rs 500. When contacted RCom spokesperson declined to comment. It is also learnt that RCom is set to offer iPhone 4S under a similar scheme of around Rs 2,500 a month for 24 months with bundled voice, 3G data and roaming.
First time This is the first time an Indian telecom company is bundling an iPhone with in-built usage. Indian operators have so far stayed away from this model fearing that subscribers will dishonour the contract by unlocking the phone for use on another operator’s network or to resell it in the grey market. Since more than 90 per cent of the Indian mobile phone market consists of pre-paid cards, operators have been wary of tracking down defaulters.
RCom has dealt with the problem by restricting the offer to credit card users, thus putting the onus of subscriber verification on partner banks, including ICICI Bank and HDFC Bank.
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