Mobile Phones
Vodafone Idea partners with Home Credit
NEW DELHI: Vodafone Idea and Home Credit India today announced an industry first strategic alliance.
The alliance will play a vital role in providing financial access to a customer base, which has not been exposed to it in the past.
The partnership with Home Credit ensures that for a down payment of just Rs. 799/-, Vodafone Idea pre-paid customers will now be able to buy the latest 4G Smartphones with a bundled 180-day validity plan offering unlimited local and national calls & 1.5GB data/day.
Customers can select the 4G smartphone of their choice from a wide range of options and popular brands available at multiple price points starting at 3999. Irrespective of the cost of the handset chosen, the down payment remains constant at only Rs.799 for this offer, much lower than the market norm of down payment being 30-40% of handset value.
The table highlights the benefits of the new VIL offer as against other handset finance offers in the market
| Handset Value | INR 5,000 | INR 10,000 | INR 15,000 | |
| Down Payment Amount (INR) | Vodafone Idea Offer | 799/- | 799/- | 799/- |
| Regular Offer (30-40%) | 1500-2000/- | 3,000-4,000/- | 4,500-6,000/- | |
| Benefits | Vodafone Idea Offer | 6 months bundled plan | 6 months bundled plan | 6 months bundled plan |
| Regular Offer | No telco benefit | No telco benefit | No telco benefit |
Commenting on the partnership, Avneesh Khosla, Operations Director – Marketing, Vodafone Idea Limited said, “It is our constant endeavor to deliver the most relevant proposition and value to our customers. We are delighted to partner with Home Credit to offer easy finance options to encourage our customers to upgrade to 4G smartphones. This partnership will help fulfill the aspirations of several million mobile phone users across the country, including those who have never had access to credit before and those who desire a smart phone but couldn’t afford to pay upfront. This bundled telecom offer will enable non-users of 4G to upgrade and experience the benefits of mobile internet while enjoying a richer user experience with Vodafone Idea.”
The partnership has been conceived with the aim of upgrading existing Vodafone Idea customers to the latest 4G Smartphones and the world of mobile data consumption. In simple words this initiative will accelerate adoption of 4G smartphones and democratize access to Vodafone Idea 4G.
This enhancement in the lifestyle will be powered by Home Credit’s consumer financing offer to the customers of Vodafone Idea. The customer can access finance in 179 cities of operations of Home Credit India through the vast Point-of-Sale (PoS) network of 29,000. Vodafone Idea customers will be able to walk into any PoS and upgrade their Smartphone
Speaking about the alliance, Mr Ondrej Kubik, CEO, Home Credit India said, “We are delighted to partner with Vodafone Idea for this unique initiative. This initiative will further strengthen our commitment towards financial inclusion and enabling that through credit provision for first time borrowers and others. Together with Vodafone Idea, Home Credit India will be able to not just help people upgrade their phones but also their lifestyle. With a Smartphone, a customer can upgrade the lives of themselves and their families. I am sure that this will create a mutually beneficial partnership between Vodafone Idea and Home Credit, where the consumer will be the ultimate winner.”
As part of the bundled offering available on finance, Vodafone Idea customers will be able to buy a 4G Smartphone at a put down price of just Rs. 799, for which the following benefits will also be available on easy instalments along with the device –
| Telecom Bundle | |
| Voice | Unlimited local & national calls |
| SMS | 100 free local & national SMS |
| Data | 1.5 GB data per day |
| Roaming | Free National roaming |
| Validity | 180 days |
NEW DELHI: Global technology brand OnePlus on Friday announced its schedule of pop-ups across seven cities in India, which will take place on February 11, where attendees will be the first to get their hands on the newly launched products OnePlus 11 5G and the OnePlus Buds Pro 2, starting at 11 a.m.
At the OnePlus pop-ups, the first 11 people to buy the all-new OnePlus 11 5G will receive exclusive OnePlus 11 goodies, such as OnePlus products and merchandise.
In the seven major cities, the pop-ups will take place at OnePlus Experience Store, Phoenix Palladium, Mumbai; OnePlus Boulevard, Brigade Road, Bengaluru; Select Citywalk Mall, Saket, New Delhi; OnePlus Experience Store, JM Road, Pune; OnePlus Nizam Palace, Himayat Nagar, Hyderabad; OnePlus Experience Store, Phoenix Market City, Chennai; and OnePlus Experience Store, CG Road, Ahmedabad.
At the Cloud 11 launch event, OnePlus announced an array of its products — 11 5G, 11R 5G, Bus Pro 2, TV Q2 Pro, Pad, and 81 Pro keyboard.
The new line-up of products is distinguished by purposeful designs, industry-leading technology, and advanced interconnectivity, which is set to take the brand’s fast and smooth experience to all new heights.
The OnePlus 11 5G was launched at a starting price of Rs 56,999 which comes in two colourways — Titan Black and Eternal Green.
It features a 6.7-inch display that comes with a refresh rate of 120 Hz.
The smartphone comes equipped with the 3rd Generation Hasselblad Camera for Mobile with a “three-main-sensor” triple-camera system — 50MP+32MP+48MP.
The smartphone also comes powered by the latest Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 chipset with up to 16GB of RAM.
OnePlus has also designed the ideal companion to the OnePlus 11 5G — the OnePlus Buds Pro 2, which promises to deliver a full-bodied, stereo-quality audio experience with crystal clarity.
The Buds Pro 2 is the second generation of its flagship earbuds, which is priced at Rs 11,999.
Apart from the first 11 buyers, other buyers will get an instant discount of Rs 1,000 on the OnePlus 11 5G, on purchase through ICICI Bank Credit Cards and EMI transactions, and up to 12 months No-Cost EMI on purchase using major credit cards.
Source: IANS
NEW DELHI: Apple Inc has rolled out a beta programme to enable 5G on Apple devices as the upgrade lets users try out pre-release software.
This software upgrade enables 5G access on Apple devices, as and when service providers Jio, Airtel and Vodafone enable 5G network access, sources said.
Apple Users have to enrol for the Beta Programme on the website, install a profile and download the software.
Jio users using iPhone 12 and above, in cities where JioTrue5G has been rolled out, will be invited to the Jio Welcome Offer. Jio Welcome Offer provides unlimited 5G data at up to 1 Gbps speed to users at no additional cost. However, there is a condition that prepaid users must be on active Rs 239 and above plan. All Postpaid users are eligible for this trial.
Airtel is not providing any special 5G offer like Jio to their users. In the cities/areas in which the Airtel 5G network has been launched, users can trial 5G services as a part of their existing plan, once they have updated the latest Apple Beta software.
While an email sent to Apple did not solicit an immediate response, the firm had last month stated: “We are working with our carrier partners in India to bring the best 5G experience to iPhone users as soon as network validation and testing for quality and performance is completed. 5G will be enabled via a software update and will start rolling out to iPhone users in December”.
Airtel and Jio customers on iPhone 14, iPhone 13, iPhone 12 and iPhone SE (3rd generation) models can experience 5G as part of Apple’s iOS 16 Beta Software Program. The Apple Beta Software Program is open to anyone with a valid Apple ID who accepts the Apple Beta Software Program Agreement during the sign-up process.
If a user has an iCloud account, that is an Apple ID, it is recommended they use that. If they do not have an iCloud account or any other Apple ID, they can create one.
Customers who want to try the beta software should back up their iPhones before installing the beta software. It is recommended to install the beta software only on non-production devices that are not business-critical. Users can also provide feedback to Apple on quality and usability, which helps Apple identify issues, fix them, and make Apple software even better.
The iOS beta comes with the built-in Feedback Assistant app, which can be opened from the Home screen on the iPhone or iPad or from the Dock on the Mac.
Source: Press Trust of India
NEW DELHI: Bharti Airtel, India’s premier digital communications solutions provider, today announced multiple new products in its cloud portfolio ahead of the 5G service launch. The new cloud offerings will fall under Edge Cloud Portfolio and will include Edge CDN. Airtel will utilise Qwilt’s Open Edge Cloud solution for deployment.
Airtel Cloud’s Edge content delivery network (CDN) accelerates web and video content delivery by using its edge network to bring content as close to users as possible. This reduces latency, costs and load on servers making it easier for enterprises to focus on app performance. This service is especially useful in OTT, Ed-Tech, Gaming and Healthcare sectors.
Airtel Cloud’s Edge CDN service is network optimised as it uses 120 edge locations, network strength and share of mobility handset to bring better customer experience to customers. Airtel is working with two of the largest OTT companies in India and others on this platform.
Speaking about Airtel Cloud’s Edge Portfolio, Mr Ajay Chitkara, Director and CEO, Airtel Business Said, said, “With 5G around the corner, businesses will leverage the low latency, high bandwidth and high device density of the 5G spectrum to solve critical problems using edge computing. Airtel has three key strengths to offer a differentiated set of cloud offerings – we have 12 large data centres and 120+ edge locations. We also have a network with comprehensive coverage across the country and to most locations across the globe. Finally, our GTM strength has direct relationships to all businesses in India small, medium or large.”
Speaking about the partnership, Mr. Alon Maor, CEO, Qwilt, said “Airtel is a tremendously exciting addition to our global ecosystem of service providers, and we are delighted to power a unique content delivery service offering in India. Our edge architecture provides a new economic model for streaming delivery, in which Airtel Cloud’s Edge CDN plays a central role in the end-to-end value chain. This announcement underscores the momentum we are gathering as we realize our ambition to build the world’s highest preforming edge delivery network.”
Airtel has been spearheading 5G throughout India. It recently became the first company to test a captive private network at the Bosch facility in Bengaluru. Airtel is also rolling out its Edge compute service to customers. This will bring 5G private network and edge computing in a single box with a view to target factories, warehouse and ports, airports who will need low latency and high bandwidth network, IOT devices to collect and computing prowess to process the data.
Airtel also announced that as we move ahead, there will be many targeted cloud solutions coming in for specific industry needs like Banking, 5G Edge, Developer and hybrid cloud requirements on an immediate basis.
