To Take on Jio and Airtel, Idea Offers Cashback Worth Rs. 2,000 on All New 4G Smartphones

Taking on Reliance Jio, Airtel, and Vodafone, Idea Cellular has launched a new cashback offer. The telco is offering a Rs. 2,000 cashback for its prepaid and postpaid subscribers buying a new 4G smartphone. Unlike the 'effective price' model that has been commonly found among the leading operators (including Idea) nowadays and is limited to select handsets, Idea's new offering lets subscribers avail the new cashback offer on 4G smartphones of their choice. It competes against Jio's new 'Football Offer', as well as the 'Mera Pehla Smartphone' offer by Airtel.

Prepaid subscribers who want to avail the cashback under the new Idea offer need to perform a recharge of Rs. 199 or above each month for the first 18 months, totalling Rs. 3,000, to receive cashback worth Rs. 750. The remaining cashback of Rs. 1,250 will be credited at the end of next 18-month period if the cumulative recharge amount for the period comes to Rs. 3,000. In simpler terms, this means the prepaid subscribers looking to receive the full cashback of Rs. 2,000 will be required to add Rs. 6,000 in recharges to their accounts in the first 36 months after purchasing a new 4G smartphone.

The cashback offer is also applicable for postpaid Idea subscribers, but they need to opt for a Nirvana voice combo plan starting at Rs. 389 for the entire duration of 36 months.

"Idea's new cashback offer provides freedom of choice to the customers to use the 4G device of their liking and affordability, as the offer can be availed on 4G smartphones of all brands," said Sashi Shankar, Chief Marketing Officer, Idea Cellular, in a press statement.

The cashback will be credited in the form of talk-time in the main account of the prepaid subscriber, Idea said. For postpaid subscribers, the cashback will be credited against the bill in 2 instalments: a Rs. 750 credit at the end of 18 billing cycles, Rs. 1,250 credit at the end of 36 billing cycles. Moreover, the cashback offer is available until April 30.

Late last week, Reliance Jio brought its Football Offer to provide a cashback worth Rs. 2,200 to customers opting its network for a new eligible handset. The list of eligible handsets for the Jio Football Offer includes offerings from brands such as Asus, BlackBerry, Huawei, LG, Micromax, Motorola, Samsung, and Xiaomi among others, and customers will need to recharge their accounts with Rs. 198 or Rs. 299 packs on or before March 31 to avail the cashback. Further, the cashback will be provided through 44 cashback vouchers worth Rs. 50 each that can be redeemed on subsequent Jio recharges.

Telecom operators such as Airtel, BSNL, and Vodafone also offer similar cashback benefits for customers buying handsets of select brands. For instance, Airtel has partnerships with companies including Celkon, HMD Global, and Karbonn to offer their smartphone models at affordable 'effective' prices that come after availing respective cashbacks.