A 4G phone at Rs 1,500 could soon be a reality

Chinese mobile chip maker Spreadtrum Communications is said to be in the process of manufacturing a 4G-enabled feature phone that would cost around Rs 1500 in the Indian market, half from the current starting prices of 4G phones from Indian brands like Lava and Micromax.

"We are working on a technology that makes a Rs 1,500 4G feature phone viable. We have already started concept promotions to our partners," Spreadtrum Communications' country head Neeraj Sharma told ET.

This has prompted both Lava and Micromax, along with Karbonn, to reduce prices of their entry level feature phones.

Other than Spreadtrum, Reliance Jio Infocomm is also said to be planning an affordable range of 4G VoLTE feature phones priced under Rs 1,500. Subscribers can only use 4G enabled phones to make use of Jio services.

Also read: Reliance Jio submits Dhan Dhana Dhan tariffs with TRAI

Spreadtrum Communications has also partnered with Reliance Industries to power its inexpensive range of LYF Flame 5 smartphone. With Lava, it had partnered for Lava M14G-enabled feature phone, available to customers for Rs 3,599.

Due to the rising popularity of Jio’s high-speed 4G data plans that are aggressively priced to take on rivals like Airtel, Vodafone and Idea, handset makers have shown increasing focus towards low-cost 4G feature phones.