Jio Phone is a looming threat for both phone makers and telecom operators, despite its pre-booking sale opening only once since it was unveiled in July. It came as no surprise to anyone that to counter Jio Phone, Airtel partnered with Karbonn and then Celkon to subsidise the effective cost of low-end Android smartphones under its 'Mera Pehla Smartphone' initiative. The latest handsets to join the Airtel programme are Karbonn A1 Indian and Karbonn A41 Power . Of course, Airtel isn't the only telco to take the subsidy route to beat Jio Phone, as Vodafone tied up with Micromax to launch Bharat-2 Ultra , and BSNL also jumped into the fray with its Micromax Bharat-1 4G feature phone. Announcing the new Airtel phones, the company's Director of Consumer Business and CMO Raj Pudipeddi said, "We are delighted to deepen our partnership with Karbonn to fulfill the smartphone aspirations of India. W...