Airtel opens bookings for Xiaomi Redmi Note to push 4G services

Bharti Airtel has tied up with Chinese handset maker Xiaomi to provide its 4G mobile Redmi Note through its 133 stores at six cities, including Delhi and NCR, Mumbai, Bangalore, Hyderabad, Chennai and Kolkata.

Priced at Rs 9,999, the mobile was recently available at Flipkart only through a flash sale on December 30, 2014, at the same price. The operator provides 4G services in 16 cities.

Bharti Airtel said: “Mi India fans can now book their device online and select their preferred Airtel store and date for purchasing the device”.

The devices will be sold at 133 of its stores on a first-come-first-serve basis.

The company said it will organise a ‘Mi Day’ each week at select stores in the six cities, enabling customers to buy the device without any pre-booking.

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

Subscribers purchasing the device will be provided a 4G SIM. The company said its existing 3G users can enjoy 4G speeds on their 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.

The department of telecommunications has not allowed Bharti to use 4G spectrum  for voice services in Delhi, Mumbai, Kerala and Haryana which it had bought from Qualcomm in 2013.

Bharti Airtel had acquired the BWA licence from Qualcomm as an internet service provider. In order to use 4G for voice purpose Bharti has to pay an additional fee for migrating to Unified Access Service License, which comes to around Rs 436 crore, which is the bone of contention.

However Bharti Airtel has 4G services in four telecom circles namely Punjab, Maharashtra, Kolkata and Karnataka.

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