Vodafone India on Tuesday announced its partnership with China's Transsion Group-owned Itel Mobile to launch the Itel A20 in the country with an effective price of as low as Rs. 1,590 - actually priced at Rs. 3,690. The subscriber opting the new launch will need to adhere to Vodafone network and the same handset for a period of three years. Previously, Vodafone India tied up with Micromax to offer a cashback worth Rs. 2,200 on its select Bharat and Canvas series 4G smartphones.
Similar to the terms for a customer opting for a 4G Micromax smartphone under the previous cashback offer, buyers picking up the Itel A20 will need to recharge their Vodafone accounts with at least Rs. 150 per month for 36 months. The recharge can be done either cumulatively or as a one-time recharge. At the end of the 18-month span, the customers will receive a cashback of Rs. 900. After another 18 months, Vodafone will offer the rest Rs. 1,200 in the form of a cashback. The cashbacks will be generated through the M-Pesa wallet and can be used to recharge, pay bills, transfer money, or withdraw cash. Eventually, Vodafone will get a chance to retain its subscriber base as well as push its subscribers to continue to use M-Pesa wallet for the next 36 months after purchasing the Itel A20.
The bundled offer for the Itel A20 will be available for Vodafone India subscribers until March 31, 2018.
The Android 7.0 Nougat-based Itel A20 runs Android 7.0 Nougat, and is powered by a 1.3GHz quad-core processor, coupled with 1GB RAM. It sports a 4-inch WVGA (480x800 pixels) display. The 4G VoLTE-enabled smartphone supports dual-SIM cards (Normal+Micro), packs a 1700mAh battery, and has 8GB of onboard storage that's expandable via microSD card (up to 32GB). It bears a 2-megapixel rear camera with flash, and a 0.3-megapixel (VGA) front camera. Sensors on board include accelerometer, ambient light sensor, and proximity sensor. It will be available in Champagne Gold, Dark Blue, and Silver colour variants.
"We are delighted to partner with Itel to hand hold customers as they transition from feature phone to smartphone and provide a rich experience with Vodafone SuperNet 4G. We firmly believe, that affordable handsets along with pocket-friendly data prices will accelerate data adoption. The exciting cashback offers will make this digital journey a more affordable and enriching one for our customers," said Avneesh Khosla, Associate Director - Consumer Business, Vodafone India, in a press statement.
Vodafone isn't alone in the race of bringing smartphone bundling offers in India. Earlier this month, Bharti Airtel partnered with Intex to launch the Intex Aqua Lions N1 for an effective price of Rs. 1,649 under its Mera Pehla Smartphone initiative. BSNL also brought the Micromax Bharat 1 as a rival against Rs. 999 Jio Phone back in October. Further, Vodafone even partnered with Micromax last month to offer Rs. 2,200 cashback on the Micromax Bharat 2 Plus, Micromax Bharat 3, Micromax Bharat 4, and the Micromax Canvas 1.
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