The Hindu Business Line : Bird plans centre in Bangalore — May tie up with Reliance to sell CDMA handsets

THE Chinese mobile phone maker, Bird International, is planning to set up a dedicated software development centre in Bangalore and is planning to tie up with Reliance Infocomm for selling its CDMA handsets in India.

"Bangalore is one of the largest software centres in the world and we plan to set up a dedicated software development centre there," Bird International Director, Mr Jean-Alexis Chatelain, told BusinessLine. He said the centre was expected to be set up next year, but did not reveal investment details. The centre will carry out software development only for Bird International. Huawei Technologies is the only other Chinese company which has a development centre based out of Bangalore.

Mr Chatelain said Bird would introduce CDMA handsets in India early next year and was eyeing Reliance Infocomm for a tie-up to sell its mobile phones. "After we launch the CDMA phones, we plan to talk to Reliance for bundling our handsets with their services," he said.

Mobile phone manufacturer DBTEL from the neighbouring Taiwan has already announced its plans to launch its products in India.

Bird International, listed on the Shanghai Stock Exchange and with annual revenues of around $845 million, has a 16 per cent market share in China.

Mr Chatelain said the company would introduce high-end mobile phones at competitive prices in India. It has already launched a multi-feature mobile phone at prices below Rs 4,000 in the Indian market.

A rapidly growing market for mobile phones in the country has prompted several mobile makers including Nokia and Siemens to launch sub-Rs 5,000 brands in the country.

In an interview with this paper earlier, Siemens mobile phone division Executive Vice-President, Mr Peter Gartenberg, quoting results from a market research said that the sub-Rs 5,000 market was the largest and would continue to grow further. He said he expected 22 million mobile subscribers by 2003-end and over 50 million subscribers by 2005.

"Though China continues to be the largest market in Asia, the growth rates are higher in India," Mr Gartenberg said.

Bird International plans to sell between 2 lakh and three lakh phones in India next year. It has already launched four models of mobile phones including the slimmest phone in the world, the S288, with a size of a mere 19.9 mm and weighing 65 gm. It is priced at Rs 5,999. Its features include retrieving SMS messages and missed calls from another mobile phone.

Bird has tied up with Essel Group's Agrani Convergence to market its phones in India. Agrani's head for distribution, Mr Rajeev Bajpai, said the company planned to open 1,000 stores in the country by 2008. It has already opened 50 stores across the country.

Article E-Mail :: Comment :: Syndication

Stories in this Section
Govt to limit WLL services to local call area

Alcatel finds Indian cellular growth tantalising

Bird plans centre in Bangalore — May tie up with Reliance to sell CDMA handsets

Rural Internet project in Theni

e-Post launch

Looking back

Anti-piracy consortium

Naren Ayyar joins Globarena