Freedom 251: FIR certain, defamation case likely against Ringing Bells

At the heart of the matter lies Ringing Bells’ ambitious plan to sell 50 lakh of the world’s cheapest 3G phone at a price of Rs 251, which the industry terms as impossible and the government is looking at with suspicion.

On this tweet, some Twitter users raised objections as why a government representative of “Make In India” was clarifying on behalf of Freedom251 company, which has been embroiled in controversy since the launch of the smartphone.

Anuj Bairathi, founder and CEO, Cyfuture told Business Today: “They told us that the phone will be launched by defence minister”.

Ringing Bells had given a contract to the BPO company, Cyfuture, for dealing with the calls of the customer. It remains to be seen what happens eventually, but these new controversies are not helping Ringing Bells, which is already facing a lot of questions from skeptics, many of whom are simply dismissing the upcoming Freedom 251 smartphone as “vaporware”. The company, however, terminated the contract on February 24, accusing Cyfuture of failing to handle huge traffic of customer calls.

“They wanted to increase the number of customer care executives from 100 to 800, which was uncalled for”, Goel said, adding that Ringing Bell had 10-12 people sitting in-house to handle the calls.

However, official statement from Ringing Bells says, “We completely disagree with the facts shared by Cyfuture BPO”.

“For your kind information, the bill of material (BOM) value for a product like this when sourced from the cheapest supply chain cost approximately $40 (Rs 2,700)”, wrote Mahindroo.

The telecom ministry is also keeping a close watch over the development with Union telecom minister Ravi Shankar Prasad saying that the company would face action if it fails to deliver the promised smartphone.

“We are taking online bookings for only 25 lakh units in the first batch due to limited supplies while giving another 25 lakh through offline distributors”.

The Freedom 251, aptly named after its price, is available to pre-order now with deliveries expected to be made by June 30, 2016. According to him, Ringing Bells was to provide a 30-day notice-period and make all pending payments.

On the preparedness of Ringing Bells as to whether it can provide a phone for Rs. 251 or not or whether it will have the BIS (Bureau of Indian Standards) certificate, he assured that there will be no breach of trust.