Philips re-enters Indian mobile handset market

NEW DELHI: The Philips brand has made a re-entry into the Indian mobile handset market after eight years with its Chinese owner launching six models priced under 10,000.

Shenzhen Sang Fei Consumer Communications, which bought Philips' mobile phone business in 2007 and retained its brand name, launched phones priced between 1,700 and 8,200.

The dual-sim handsets are based on the energy-conserving Xenium technology that allows them to work for weeks without a recharge. Sang Fei hopes this feature, along with the 'Philips' brand name, will help it sell 1 million units by March next year.

The company's chief executive said Sang Fei was considering setting up a local manufacturing unit and R&D centre in India. "We are seriously considering a local manufacturing facility (and) research and development unit. Once India sales hit 3 million a year, it will be appropriate for the company to set up a local manufacturing facility," Tan Jok Tin said. India's 30,000-crore mobile handset market already has over 70 homegrown and international brands.

Sang Fei is a subsidiary of China Electronics Corporation (CEC) and SED Group. It was created as a joint venture in 1996 between electronics giant Royal Dutch Philips Electronics Ltd and SED.

The company makes handsets for other brands too, but it did not share revenues from sourcing contracts, as they are confidential agreements.

Tin said the company was planning to launch Android-based smartphones and tablets globally over the next few months. However, the timing of their India launch has not yet been decided.

Sang Fei uses Google's operating system in over 80% of its phones. It has also started working on Microsoft's operating system, 'Windows 7', which handset giant Nokia plans to adopt for its phones. Tin, however, said his company would observe the Microsoft-Nokia tie up before adding more Windows-based phones to its portfolio.