Spice to launch sub Rs 1,000 GSM mobile next month

New Delhi, Aug 1 (UNI) Marking a major foray into the low-end mobile segment, Spice Mobile Ltd today said it will come out with a below Rs 1,000 GSM handset by September to cater to the growing demands for cheap phones in the non-metro cities.

''We would launch the sub Rs 1,000 mobile GSM phone soon and will also be rolling out a movie-Phone with an in-built DVD player by first half of 2008 as a part of our R&D initiatives,'' Spice Mobile CEO Kunal Ahuja told reporters here at a launch.

Last fiscal the company sold close to a million unit of mobiles and plans to raise it to 1.5 million this year.

''We are spending huge amounts in marketing. For the dual phone, we are spending two million dollars while for marketing of all phones, we spend close to 10 million dollars,'' Mr Ahuja said.

Spice had focussed on the Tier II and III cities by looking to deliver strong vernacular content and it said it aims to increase the market share in sales to 10 per cent by 2010.

Mr Ahuja said the company is in talks with major mobile operators to bundle its MP3 and camera phones.

To enhance its economies of scale, Spice is setting up its manufacturing plant in Baddi, Himachal Pradesh. The company presently has manufacturing tie-ups with Chinese firms for the production of its handsets.

The new plant in Baddi will initially produce the company's low-end phones.

The company is also sprucing up its retail and servicing outlets as it plans to have 225 service outlets by 2008 from the present 150. It will also set up three more L4 (component servicing including motherboard) by March 2008 in Delhi from its present one store.

The company's sales are primarily driven by the northern market with Rajasthan emerging as a major market. Kolkata and Hyderabad are the other two emerging markets and the company said it is looking to open new distribution outlet in Tamil Nadu and Kerala.

UNI