The telecom major said in a statement, "Bharti Airtel...and HMD Global today announced a partnership to offer affordable 4G smartphone options to customers as part of Airtel's Mera Pehla Smartphone initiative. Nokia 3 and Nokia 2, 4G smartphones are now available with cashback offer of Rs 2,000 from Airtel,"
Both 4G smartphones will come bundled with Airtel recharge pack of Rs 169 offering 1GB 4G data per day and unlimited local and STD calling.
Telecom operators started offering cashback on purchase of smartphone after Reliance Jio rolled out effective free mobile handset 'JioPhone'.
To avail of the offer, Airtel customer will need to purchase Nokia 2 and 3 smartphones at market price and will be credited with Rs 2,000 in their Airtel wallet in two over period of 36 months.
"Nokia devices have a solid brand resonance amongst customers and we believe that the partnership offers a great proposition to customers looking for quality devices at great prices," Bharti Airtel, Chief Operating Officer (India & South Asia) Ajai Puri said.
A customer needs to make Airtel prepaid recharges worth Rs 3,500 within the 18 months to be eligible for the first cashback instalment of Rs 500. Similarly, another set of recharges worth Rs 3500 over the next 18 months will make the customer eligible for the second instalment of Rs 1,500, the statement said.
The Nokia 3 , available for Rs , 9,499 , comes with 5-inch display, 1.3 Ghz quad-core Mediatek processor, 2GB RAM, 16 GB internal storage with external memory card support of up to 128 GB, 2,630 mAH, 8 megpixel (mp) rear and front camera.
Nokia 2 smartphone, available for Rs 6,999, comes with similar screen size as of Nokia 3, 1.3 Ghz quad core Qualcomm Snapdragon processor, 1GB RAM, 8 GB internal memory, 4,100 mAH, 8 mp rear camera and 5 mp front camera. After the Airtel offer, the effective price of these phones will come down by 2,000 a unit.