Our telecom operator earnings coverage is brought to you by OnMobile Global, India’s leading Mobile Value Added Services [VAS] company Reliance Communications plans to replicate the data bundled device tie-up it had inked with Apple in the previous quarter, with more smartphone brands across various pricing points, the company CEO (Wireless) Gurdeep Singh disclosed during its earnings conference call for the quarter ended December 31, 2013 (Q3-FY14). In November 2013, RCOM had launched (pdf) EMI-like 2 year contract plans for Apple's iPhone 5C and iPhone 5S called 'Zero Plan offers', wherein users got the handset, unlimited local and STD calls, 3,000 SMS per month, national roaming and unlimited 3G data for a monthly payment of Rs 2,599 (iPhone 5c) or Rs 2,999 (iPhone 5S) for 24 months. However, a month later, RCOM increased the contract prices of iPhone 5C and 5S to Rs 2,999 and Rs 3,599 per month and introduced a similar plan for the two-gen old iPhone 4S at Rs 2,499 per month. Earlier this week, RCOM also introduced a similar plan for select Nokia Lumia smartphones, through which it is offering Nokia Lumia 1320 for Rs 2,199 per month and Nokia Lumia 1520 at Rs 3,349 per month. The company's website also suggests that it is offering similar plans for GSM + CDMA based HTC devices like HTC Desire 700 (Rs 2,179 per month), HTC One DS (Rs 2,899 per month), HTC Desire 600c (Rs 2,099 per month) and HTC Desire XC (Rs 1,599 per month) among others. Singh says the iPhone offer has led to a significant amount of high…
