Videocon to bid for Motorola mobile biz

BANGALORE, INDIA: Consumer durables company Videocon Group has expressed its interest to buy handset business of Motorola, in a bid to expand its mobile telephony business in India, according to media reports.

Motorola, ranked third in the global handset market, on March 27 said that it would split into two publicly traded entities in 2009, indicating that it had no quick fix in sight for its money-losing handset division.

Motorola plans to create two publicly traded companies, separating its mobile phone unit from the rest of the business, which makes television set-top boxes and network equipment.

The decision follows a loss in market value of 60 per cent to about $22 billion in just over a year.

No buyers have emerged for the cell-phone unit since Motorola announced a strategic review in late January.

Media reports said that Merrill Lynch estimates Motorola's handset business has been to be worth over $3.8 billion.

The company has manufacturing unit in Chennai, which manufactures both GSM and CDMA handsets.