Take care of your mobile for Rs475/ year

BANGALORE: StarLeague Communications, one of the major channel partners of Airtel, has announced the launch of Hello World, a set of retail stores that aims to revolutionize the world of after sales service for mobile handsets.

"After sales service in the mobile segment is an area that has been untouched by any organized player so far. We see a huge market in this area with Karnataka alone containing one million cell phone users with expectations to double next year. The number of users on older models of cell phones is also increasing. Hello World will service the needs of that growing segment," said MD of Star League Communications S Kumar.

According to the company, the Hello World set of retail stores will offer varied services to customers including AMC for cell phones starting from Rs 475, phone insurance and even phones on a rental basis for people who are travelling apart from basic servicing options. Though restricted to GSM phones at the moment, the company said that it is not closing its doors on expanding to CDMA handsets as well. The company plans to open three stores in Bangalore in the next one month, followed by three more in the city and four in other parts of Karnataka, including Hubli, Mysore and Davangere, in the next eight months time.

"We will be moving out nationally within a year or so with our next stop being most probably Tamil Nadu. While some of the initial stores will be company owned, the rest of our stores will be strictly franchisee operated. Most of them will be newly appointed," said Kumar. He added that it will also be appointing dealers in the smaller cities where direct presence is not possible, who will operate as handset collection centers and get the sets to the nearest Hello World point.

Though unwilling to give details on its investment in the venture Kumar did say that the first three stores would involve close to Rs one crore in expenditure. He also said that the company expects AMC revenues alone to add upto Rs 20 lakh in the first year of operations. Airtel was the first telecom major to endorse the plans of Hello World.

CyberMedia News Service