Reliance Jio’s Rs 501 Phone offer may force small handset firms to pack up.

Reliance Jio’s Rs 501 Phone offer may force small handset firms to pack up .

NEW DELHI: The featurephone market could well implode the way India’s telecom market did — from an eight-player market to three private carriers — thanks to Reliance IndustriesNSE 1.28 % (RIL), which will allow consumers to upgrade to its 4G Volte-based featurephone called JioPhone for Rs 501 in exchange for any old featurephone. 

Sector watchers and industry insiders said that RIL’s latest move, which comes into effect from July 21and is aimed at boosting the user base of its telecom arm Reliance Jio, will lead to a rapid consolidation of the handset market. They expect smaller featurephone-focused players to pack up and larger players to possibly scale down production to trim their losses. 

“This has the potential to impact the 2G market largely and can lead to a quick consolidation in the featurephone market,” said Jaipal Singh, senior market analyst at International Data Corporation (IDC) India. 

“Smaller vendors will try to de-focus from this category, whereas the other key vendors will cut down their volume in the short-term as a quick measure, and focus largely on the markets where 2G demand is still relevant,” he said. 

While key vendors include Samsung, Itel  .. 

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