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Apple’s iPhone sales in India under scrutiny by the government?


Aircel offers the iPhone 4 in India with the following prepaid tariffs

Apple’s practice of limiting iPhone sales to cherry-picked wireless operators while leaving other operatorsout of the picture is raising red flags with the Indian government which is on the verge of probing the company for alleged anticompetitive behavior, reports PCMag.

A Competition Commission of India official said on Wednesday that a case was filed against Apple about a month ago. The complaint alleges that the company violated competition law by selling the iPhone 4 through only two mobile operators, Bharti Airtel and Aircel. The official, speaking anonymously, said the Commission would look into the complaint’s merits. He did not disclose the complainant.

Apple on its parts says that both carriers sell unlocked iPhone 4s with optional data plans. Some third-party retailers also carry the handset separate of any wireless contract. The iPhone 4 hit the 1.2 billion people market of India on May 27, immediately drawing concerns from some would-be buyers…


This is how much it costs to get an iPhone 4 in India with a two year service agreement (postpaid)

Aircel priced the 16GB version at 34,500 Indian rupees (about $760) while the 32GB versions costs 40,900 rupees (about $900) with select prepaid plans. Those prices are out of reach for the 41.6 percent of the total population that lives below the international poverty line of $1.25 a day. Aircel says it is offering the iPhone 4 with discounted data plans that let people recover the handset’s upfront cost in monthly credits on their service plan over 24 months.

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