Indonesia’s Smartfren Offers Cellphone With Tethering for Only $41

Photo: Smartfren

Today, Smartfren launched a new cellphone with tethering capability, the Smartfren Xstre@m EVDO HotSpot. Xstre@m can function as a wi-fi hotspot and can connect up to five devices all at once. And it only costs only Rp399.000 (just over $41).

Smartfren proudly notes that this is the first CDMA cellphone in Indonesia with this hotspot feature. Most Smartfren devices reached out for the low-end market. The company targeted 4 million total units to be sold in 2012. This number is up 40 percent from last year’s sales target of 2.4 million units. Deputy CEO of Smartfren, Djoko Tata Ibrahim, said:

We hope that the presence of this feature in the latest Xstre@m phone will make internet connection sharing easier. Users can also enjoy audio and video streaming, internet browsing, and access to social media as well as other data services in a more simple yet affordable way, for all segments of society.

You can also access entertainment content like Smartfren Ring Back Tone to Uangku as a mobile banking service.

With speed of up to 3.1Mbps, Xstre@m comes with affordable data package. The phone price includes a 12GB free data package, free Facebook and Twitter access, and free on-net. All of the freebies will continue for 365 days.

A competitor in the low-end EVDO device space would be Esia with its Max-D modem which only costs Rp99.000 (over $10) — but that’s just a modem with no tethering capability. Yet Xstre@m can also function as a cellphone, so its quite a bargain.

Full Specifications

• CDMA2000-1X EV-DO Rev A Dual Band (800/1900 MHz)
• Kecepatan mengunduh hingga 3.1 Mbps
• 3.5” Audio Port (Stereo)
• Micro-USB Port Interface
• Wi-Fi Hotspot (Tethering) up to five users
• Audio & Video Streaming (RTSP)
• WAP Browser
• Camera
• Video Recording
• Bluetooth
• Multimedia (MP3 dan MP4 Player)
• FM Radio
• Social Networking
• Modem support*
• Support Micro-SDHC up to 8GB (external)
• Battery 1200mAH