DataWind plans to launch affordable mobile devices with free internet connectivity for one year priced at Rs 3000.
Budget device maker DataWind, is planning to launch mobile phones with free basic internet connectivity for one year. The company has allotted Rs 150 crore for the project.
DataWind Founder and CEO Suneet Singh Tuli stated, "We are in talks with a private operator to launch mobile phones with free basic Internet services for one year to start with. It should cost around Rs. 3,000 a unit. We have raised CAD 30 million (about Rs. 150 crores) through our public offer and all that is earmarked for this project."
He confirmed that the mobile handset will be priced at Rs 3000 approx to target the budget consumers. He added that industry trends have revealed that an estimated 76 percent of Indian mobile device buyers choose handsets priced below Rs. 4,000 and 60 percent buy phones priced below Rs. 2,000.
"Many of these customers are not subscribers of Internet services. We want to tap the first time Internet users category and grow it gradually," Tuli said.
He added that the company has given proof of concept to the telecom operators and only the final agreement is due to be signed. The company has asked the operators to bill it for the Internet services that the consumers will access from its servers. DataWind established its own distribution network in the east, has tied up with UniverCell in the south, Spice Retail in the North and West in the past 6 months.
"We are just waiting for signing of final deal and am hopeful that it should be done by February as they will also gain from increase in data usage," Tuli said.
"We have already put in place our distribution to reach target customers. Earlier this month, we tied up with HomeShop18 as 80 percent of our target market may not have access to Internet but they have access to TV ," Tuli said. Read: DataWind to sell products via HomeShop 18's multimedia retail platform
Source: ET
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