Forget MTNL, WLL handsets for Rs 4,500!

Neeraja Kumar in New Delhi

Unbelievable but true. Code division multiple access (CDMA) wireless in local loop (WLL) handsets are available at less than Rs 4,500 in the market, while the Mahnagar Telephone Nigam Limited (MTNL) is taking a deposit of Rs 10,000 per WLL handset.

GD Overseas Limited is one of the companies, which is importing the Samsung CDMA handsets from Korea and selling them at prices ranging from Rs 4,490 to Rs 9,990 since the last two months.

Interestingly, last month while launching Garuda — MTNL’s WLL service, Union Communications Minister Pramod Mahajan, had claimed that CDMA handsets are not available below Rs 10,000 in India.
He had then announced that prices would be flexible and will be reduced as soon as the cost of procuring these handsets go down.

Meanwhile, Mr Sunil Kumar, director, GD Overseas claims that the handsets being sold by the company are fully duty paid.
“We have paid duties of nearly 32 per cent, including countervailing duty (CVD) of nearly 20 per cent,” he added.

He also claims that while in Delhi the lowest cost is Rs 4,490, in other parts of India, like Jaipur, Chandigarh, and Hyderabad — where WLL services are already operational — the company has sold handsets for as low as Rs 3,990.