Nokia partners Airtel to offer free 3G data to Nokia X buyers

Finnish handset giant Nokia has partnered country's largest private telecom firm Bharti Airtel to offer 500 MB 3G data per month for three months for buyers of its recently launched Nokia X Android-powered smartphone.

Customers in non-3G circles can enjoy the same benefit on 2G data, the handset maker said in a statement.

Last month, Nokia had launched its phone 'X' in India for Rs 8,599, which is aimed at protecting its turf in the fiercely competitive Indian smartphone market.

"This reinforces Nokia's commitment towards working with our partners within the ecosystem to deliver the best user experiences," Nokia India Director Marketing Viral Oza said.

 Post the exhaustion of 500 MB of data, users will be charged 3 paise per 10KB and 10 paise per 10 KB in 2G circles.

The offer would be available only on the first SIM inserted in a new Nokia X device by existing or new Airtel customers. The offer is valid on new devices bought until June 30, 2014.

"India is witnessing a tremendous growth in smartphone adoption. This offer will enable customers to make the most of their new Nokia X device," Bharti Airtel CEO (Data and Devices) Kartik Sheth said.

Nokia had announced the launch of 'Nokia X' family of affordable smartphones, which runs Google's Android apps, at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona in February this year.

The company had said then that Nokia X+ is expected to be priced at euro 99 (about Rs 8,400), Nokia XL at euro 109 (about Rs 9,200) and Nokia X at euro 89 (about Rs 7,500).

Nokia had said it will bring the other two devices  X+ and XL in the Indian market by May.

India is the third largest market for smartphones. IDC data showed that smartphone sales in the country surpassed 44 million units in 2013, up from 16.2 million in 2012.

The surge has been mainly powered by home grown vendors like Micromax, Karbonn and Lava, which offer smartphones for as low as Rs 3,000.

Also, IDC attributed the migration of users from feature phones to smartphones primarily due to the narrowing price gaps between these product categories.

The dual SIM Nokia X is a 4-inch device, powered by a 1 GHz dual core Qualcomm Snapdragon processor. It features a tile-based design, 512MB RAM (up to 32GB expandable memory), 3MP camera and 1500 mAH battery.

The Nokia X is based on the Android open platform. While Nokia X users will not have access to Google's app market 'Google Play', they can sideload Android apps from third party app stores as well as Microsoft app store.