Sometime back there were rumours that Iphone would be available in india to vodafone customers for Just Rs 8000/- then it was said that it would be supplied free for vodafone subscribers and there was a number to send sms to book the phone and then the .......
But around the year 2003 Reliance was to launch and they were doing the ground work by the name of dirubhai ambani enterpreneur.Which did not go well and there were lots of issues which they did not rectify.
Then suddenly there was Reliance LG handsets for Rs 501/- and rest in installments which had a emi component of the handset.Thus it wasn't a free phone though it turned out to be free for many who brought and never paid for it.
Reliance attempted to bail many out by offering to change the connection to prepaid by paying Rs 2000/- for connections whose outstanding bill amount was below 20,000/- for those in 19,xxx this was a great advantage enjoyed by those who defaulted.
But however this episode is known as the free phone concept of reliance in india. But actually around Rs 300 was collected as emi for the phone,and these phones were locked to the service provider.
But there are other offers from bsnl for 1100 with a emi of Rs110 for 12 months and so on , but however due to atrocious Public relations and customer care they never attracted attention
Now there is offer from reliance Rs777/- for reliance cdma handset with lifetime incoming free.