Airtel to take on JioPhone Next with ₹6,000 cashback offer. See details

Under the cashback plan, Airtel will offer a cashback of ₹6,000 to customers who purchase a new smartphone priced up to ₹12,000 from selected manufacturers. The telco has selected 150 models from 12 companies – Samsung, Xiaomi, Vivo, Oppo, Realme, Nokia, Itel, Lava, Infinix, Tecno, Lenovo and Motorola. The list of eligible smartphones can be found on the Airtel website

The timing of the cashback offer makes it an unmistakable counter to the JioPhone Next. The ultra-affordable smartphone jointly developed by Jio and Google is expected to come bundled with new cheap 4G plans. Jio had discontinued two affordable JioPhone plans and is expected to replace them with new options when JioPhone Next arrives on the scene.

Airtel’s new cashback offer and JioPhone Next will compete for the same customer base – subscribers looking to upgrade from 2G network to a 4G one. While the pricing details for the JioPhone Next are not known yet, the device is likely to be priced very competitively. Jio also offers 20 per cent cashback on prepaid plans starting at ₹249.

How to get ₹6,000 cashback

To avail the ₹6,000 cashback benefit, a customer needs to recharge with a Airtel prepaid pack of ₹249 or above continuously for 36 months. The customer will receive the cashback in two parts – the first instalment of ₹2,000 will be paid after 18 months and the remaining ₹4,000 after 36 months.

Benefits

Apart from the benefits of the pack they choose, customers can also get a one-time free screen replacement by Servify in case of damage, which Airtel estimates to be worth ₹4,800. Once customer is on an eligible recharge pack, the screen replacement enrolment can be done on Airtel Thanks App within 90 days period.

Customers will also get free subscription to Wynk Music, 30-day trial of Amazon Prime mobile edition and Airtel Thanks benefits.