Karbonn and Micromax testing 4G LTE devices with Reliance Jio Infocomm

As some Indian telcos like the Reliance Jio Infocomm are all geared to roll out 4G services in India early next year, manufacturers like Micromax, Karbonn and others have already begun working on LTE-enabled devices for India. Some insiders have told Business Standard that the 4G devices in India could be priced somewhere between Rs 15,000 and Rs 44,500.

The 4G technology for India would be different, so 4G or LTE devices used globally cannot be used here. While India and China use TDD LTE network, most Western countries use FDD LTE. Karbonn is developing a large 5-inch device likely to be priced at Rs 26,000 for LTE consumers, the company’s managing director Pradeep Jain said. Moreover, Karbonn also plans to launch LTE devices in lower price segments starting at Rs 4,000 in the future. However, all of this is possible only when the telcos finally roll out 4G services in India.

Huawei is reportedly testing devices, especially smartphones, with China Mobile and Reliance Jio, as both India and China use the same LTE frequency. Huawei is said to offer LTE-based devices priced between Rs 15,000 and Rs 20,000. This is in addition to the Huawei Ascend P1, which already is being sold in India.

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LTE-enabled devices in the works

LG has disclosed that its recently launched G2 will get a TDD-LTE variant when the service is launched. The 16GB and 32GB versions of the LG G2 are priced at Rs 41,500 and Rs 44,500 respectively. You can check out our review of the G2 to see if the LTE version is worth waiting for.

Among chip makers, Qualcomm has already begun working with device manufacturers to offer cheaper 4G LTE phones. Bharti Airtel offers LTE services (only data) in a few selected cities like Kolkata, Bangalore, Pune and Chandigarh. However, it has very limited customers. Reportedly, Airtel has recently slashed prices for its 4G services.

We’d earlier heard that Reliance Jio Infocomm wants Samsung to provide 4G devices at Rs 5,000. However, reports claims that a possible deal could not go through due to the Rs 5,000 starting price that Ambanis’ expect.