Airtel rides high on 4G plans, partners with Xiaomi

New Delhi: The country’s largest telecom operator, Bharti Airtel, has partnered with Chinese handset maker Xiaomi to sell 4G device RedmiNote at a price of Rs 9,999 through its stores in six cities, including the national capital.

The operator provides 4G services in 16 cities and will provide the Redmi Note at 133 stores across Mumbai, Bangalore, Hyderabad, Chennai, Delhi-NCR and Kolkata with its own postpaid plans.

Airtel also intends to organize a 'Mi Day' each week at select stores in the six cities, for customers to buy the device without any pre-booking.

It should be noted that Airtel's rival Reliance Jio, which is the only operator having a pan-India 4G license, is all set to launch 4G services this year.

The company said while its postpaid customers having at least 500 MB 3G data pack activated on their connection can easily move to the Redmi Note, prepaid and non-Airtel customers will have to first opt for an Airtel postpaid myPlan when they purchase the Redmi Note 4G.

The devices will be sold at these stores on a first-come-first-serve basis, Airtel added.

Customers purchasing the device will be provided a 4G SIM. The company said its existing 3G users can enjoy 4G speeds on their new Redmi Note 4G at the same tariff as their existing 3G plan, without activating any special 4G plan.

In cities where Airtel 4G services are not yet available, customers will be automatically upgraded to 4G at the same tariff as their existing 3G data packs as and when 4G services are rolled out in these cities, it added.

Postpaid customers in Bengaluru can also avail a promotional offer of double data benefits on their 4G plans on buying the device.