Meridian Mobile eyes turnover Rs 500 cr by 2009

New Delhi, Nov 27 (UNI) Buoyed by new products and expansion of its retail chain, Meridian Mobile Pvt Ltd, a wholly-owned subsidiary of the UK-based Meridian Telecom Plc, today said it is eyeing a turnover Rs 500 crore by March 2009.

''We will have a turnover of minimum Rs 500 crore by the end of next financial year (2008-09),'' company's Chief Operating Officer Rajiv Khanna told reporters here on the sidelines of its product launch.

He said the company will achieve a target of Rs 150 crore turnover by the end of this fiscal.

Meridian Mobile Pvt Ltd had recieved the licence to use the 'HUMMER' to offer products under the brand 'Fly' last year and has the phones designed by France-based ModeLabs and vendor developed in Korea.

Speaking at the launch of its new phone 'HUMMER by Fly' priced at Rs 11,999, Mr Khanna said the phones will be available in over 2,000 multi-branded outlets which would be scaled up to about 8,000 by the end of next month.

At present, the company offers 22 handset models and will be 31 by the year-end.

Hummer phone boasts of 262K colour LCD touch screen, a two mega-pixel camera with a 256 MB card.

Having a market share of three per cent, the company expects to consolidate it with the launch of these high-end phones, he said.

The company also plans to introduce a new phone with Yamaha chips in the next four weeks.

''Our marketing strategy is to focus on store branding and forging alliances with retailers,'' Mr Khanna said.

Currently present in 145 towns, the company sells its handsets through various multi-branded stores such as Pantaloons, Bigbazaar, Essar -- The Mobile Store, Subhiksha, Hotspot and RPG.

UNI