New Delhi, Sept 25: US based Qualcomm, developer of
CDMA technology, today announced granting of first licence in
India to Himachal Futuristic Communications Ltd to develop,
manufacture and sell CDMA mobile handsets and other devices.
With this, HFCL gets into the league of big telecom
players like LG and Samsung. The move would also bring prices
of CDMA mobile handsets further down and benefit operators
like Reliance Communications and Tata Teleservices.
"We shall start manufacturing on full scale from April
2007. We expect to produce four million devices (a combination
of mobile handsets and fixed wireless devices) in the first
year," HFCL chairman Mahendra Nahata said.
Asked about the investment, Nahata said in the first year
the company would pump in about Rs 25-30 crore. "It would be
our endeavour to supply handsets both to domestic players as
well as export in the overseas markets."
"Under the terms of the worldwide, royalty-bearing
agreement, Qualcomm has granted HFCL a patent licence to
develop, manufacture and sell CDMA 2000 handsets and other
related devices," Qualcomm India president Kanwalinder Singh
said.
With this, prices of CDMA handsets, which are already
ruling around 36 dollar, are expected to come down further as
the competition increases, Singh said.
In India, Reliance Communications and Tata Teleservices
are offering CDMA based mobile services and have pan-India
presence. Besides them, there are regional players like HFCL
and Shyam Telecom.
Bureau Report
