Devices & Platforms

Download deal aims at attracting Indian Android users

A new agreement will provide buyers of Android phones in India with free airtime...

A new agreement will provide buyers of Android phones in India with free airtime. Indian mobile operator Reliance Communications (RCOM) and Google have entered into a two-year arrangement whereby customers who purchase Android devices approved by Google will have airtime bundled into the deal.

The promotion begins this weekend, and is being heavily advertised by both Google and RCOM, the latter of which is launching a INR300 million (US$5.8 million) promotional campaign. Consumers who purchase devices covered by the deal will be able to download 1GB for free over the first six months.

India’s Economic Times estimates that around 200,000 devices which qualify for the deal will be sold across the next two years. While customers have no obligation to stay with RCOM, the operator is likely to retain around two thirds of new customers in the long term.

"RCOM would be able to retain more than a fair share of these customers on its network”, said Prashant Singhal of Ernst & Young India. “The intangible brand benefits from such an exclusive tie-up will exceed the monetary benefits in the two years.”

The operator is likely looking to boost its ARPU with high-value customers; RCOM’s ARPU is currently around R100, while among Android users ARPU is typically around INR250-300.



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