Prepay customers who opt for the INR 199.00 (US $2.96) plan and or more expensive plans will be eligible for the offer. Vodafone’s postpaid customers who have subscribed to the Red INR 399.00 (US $5.94) plan or higher can also receive the added data benefit of 10 GB per month upon buying Asus ZenFone Max Pro (M1).
Tarifica’s Take
We find this promotion interesting because usually when it comes to device promotions, we see smartphones offered free or discounted in order to stimulate customers to consume more data. In this case, Vodafone India is doing the reverse—offering free data to customers who spend on the device.
We can surmise that device revenue is important to the operator, such that maximizing the number of devices sold is a priority. Since this Android phone for Asus is a budget device, aiming to deliver many of the features of the iPhone at a much lower price point, it is realistic to think that Vodafone and Asus will find a good market for it among consumers in India, a developing market.
Ultimately, the operator can benefit both ways, because once they have the device and the free 10 GB a month—a very generous allotment of data sufficient for heavy streaming of entertainment content and other data-intensive functions—their usage habits will very likely increase. That in turn will lead to more data revenue for Vodafone after the one-year promotional period is over.