In a bid to acquire rural subscribers, most Indian telecom operators have started investing in infrastructure to roll out their services in these areas. Realising this as a huge potential, small Indian handset manufacturing companies, including Micromax, Intex Technologies and Karbonn, have lined up a marketing spent of around Rs 100 crore for the financial year 2009-10.
?After the slowdown in the handset business globally, international brands have become conscious about their marketing strategies. Eyeing this opportunity, small handset manufacturing companies have started offering differentiated features at a comparatively lower price,? said Naveen Mishra, manager (communications research), IDC India.
Prem Kumar, CEO, Meridian Mobile, said the Indian telecom market is buoyant despite the slowdown. ?There has been a shift in the product mix from mid to low end. We are, therefore, putting more resources on software, VAS and also producing smart, differentiated phone factors,? added Kumar.
Companies like Micromax, Intex Technologies, Karbonn, Byond & Fly, amongst others, are in the race to pump in huge money in marketing activities to rope in rural customers. These companies are bullish about the Indian rural market in terms of the number of handsets being sold. As per analysts, almost 60% of the total net additions are from the rural area, which makes this market more lucrative for these small handset manufacturers.
?We sell about half-a-million handsets per month. Going ahead, at this rate, we aim to acquire about 12-14% of the market share in the Indian handset manufacturing space,? said Rahul Sharma, COO, Micromax.
These manufacturers would not be investing as much as the international handset manufacturers in marketing, but some of them, like Micromax and Karbonn, have already rolled out television commercials. ?These companies have focused on a particular rural region, which has fuelled their growth. They cater to customers who would be totally new to a mobile handset,? said Mishra.