NEW DELHI: Micromax, Lava, Karbonn, Spice, Maxx , Olive and Zen have got a new caller tune-waka waka eh ehae...this time for Africa. After giving multinational majors such as Nokia a run for its money in India, and cornering one-fifth of the handset market in the country, homespun mobile handset brands have firmed up plans to start operations in Africa by this quarter end.
The Dark Continent, which is on the brink of an explosive growth, quite similar to what India experienced early this decade, resembles the Indian mobile market in many ways-cellphones account for more than 90% of all telephone lines and the mobile penetration is at about 50%, with customer growth at around 15% per annum.
"There are MNCs and Chinese players (in Africa) leaving a huge gap for us to fill," says managing director of Spice Mobility Dilip Modi . Spice has been selling value-added services to African mobile carriers for over a year.
So, the leading Indian cellphone maker, Micromax, which started selling its cellphones in Brazil last month, is set to launch operations in Nigeria this June, an executive from the company said on the condition of anonymity.
Micromax is putting a sales team in place in Nigeria, Africa's largest telecoms market in terms of customers. The handset maker did not comment on these developments since the company has filed for a public listing and is barred by the market regulator from making public announcements on its operations.
For Zen Mobile, which has been selling handsets in Nigeria so far, volumes have been conservative. It has entered into a JV with a marketing and distribution company in the African country and has sold between 20,000 and 30,000 handsets in the price range of $25-$50.
"When people want to upgrade, there is not much choicea¦ they want music, multimedia, better screen, better sound at a better price," says Zen Mobile director Deepesh Gupta.
Source: timesofindia.indiatimes.com
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