A consortium of handset maker Micromax and telecom major Reliance Jio has bagged a Rs 1,500-crore order from the Chhattisgarh government to distribute 50 lakh smartphones to women and students in the state.
Under the project, 45 lakh smartphones are being given to women and the remaining will be distributed to college students in the state, Micromax co-founder Vikas Jain told agencies.
“About 10,000 camps are being organised under the project and deliveries have already started. Every beneficiary, chosen by the state government, is handed the device personally after activating it with Reliance Jio connection. The authentication of the beneficiary is done using Aadhaar,” he said.
Jain said the project covered a large part of the population and the company reserved space in 15 warehouses across the state to ensure timely distribution of the handsets to people. Chhattisgarh had a population of over 2.5 crore as per the 2011 census.
The deal was signed earlier this year with distribution starting end of July. “For carrying out the project, we hired about 2,000-2,500 temporary staff… We expect to complete deliveries to all beneficiaries in the next few weeks,” he added.
The beneficiaries will receive 1GB 4G data, 100 minutes voice calls and 100 SMS per month for six months, following which they will be offered tariff plans that are most affordable and competitively priced.
