Motorola launches cheap handset in India

NEW DELHI: Mobile handset maker Motorola Inc. launched a phone in India on Thursday that is amongst the cheapest, hoping it would help raise its meagre share in the booming market.

Priced below $37, the C115 is manufactured in India, the world's fastest growing mobile market, where global handset giant Nokia has more than half the slice.

"We're looking at reducing costs further," Firdose Vandrevala, chief of Motorola India, told reporters. "We want to play a meaningful role in achieving the national target."

Telecommunications Minister Dayanidhi Maran has forecast India will more than double its phone user base to 250 million by end-2007 from about 125 million, including fixed-line, now.

Mobile services, already the fastest growing segment in Asia's third-largest economy, are widely expected to contribute a major chunk of that projection.

Demand for handsets is booming in India, where 34 million phones are expected to be sold in 2005, as 3.5 million new users are entering the 72 million strong sector each month.

Even as demand is soaring, price remains a major entry barrier for more growth. Several handset firms have started making phones locally to cut costs and time to market.

Korean giants Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd. and LG Electronics Inc. are major players in India, along with Sony-Ericsson.