China Wireless Technologies a Shenzen based, Hong Kong listed developer of wireless data solutions and dual (GSM and CDMA) smartphones plans to set up a mobile handset factory in India by 2012. The Chinese company which entered the Indian market in 2009 through Coolpad Communications, a Joint Venture with Reliance Communications, owned by billionaire Anil Ambani is expected to pump Rs 300 crore to Rs 400 crore (US$65-86 million) in the plant and a research center.
“We will open our R&D center in Delhi and Mumbai by next year. Currently, we use services from our center in China. Subsequently, we plan to set up a manufacturing facility in 2012. The total investment would be in the range of Rs 300-400 crore over a period of time,” Coolpad Communication Managing Director Sami Al-Lawati told Business Standard. Nokia and Samsung which currently control a majority of the Indian handset space are also the only two which have a handset manufacturing base in India.
The announcement to manufacture handsets for India, the fastest growing telecom market worldwide, comes at a time when the Indian government has already expressed its reservations against telecom equipment manufacturers Huawei Technologies and ZTE over security issues. However Coolpad Communications is confident of selling one million handsets within a year of operations in India, a market of a 100 million handsets annually and 600 million users.
In order to allay labor issues too, which have been an issue between India and China, the company plans to hire local talent and expertise.
India marked Coolpad Communication’s first global market entry outside China. The company retails India’s most affordable touchscreen CDMA mobile phone through Reliance webworld’s 700 stores across the country. The joint venture plans to roll out 15 new models this year across varying price points in order to cater to India’s vast market.
China Wireless Technologies was incorporated in the Cayman Islands as an exempted company with limited liability on 11 June 2002. The group is headed by Guo Deying, Chairman, Executive Director and CEO. Besides Coolpad Communications, the company owns Yulong Computer Telecommunication Scientific (Shenzhen) Co., Ltd. an indirect wholly owned subsidiary of the Company which specializes in R&D for smartphones.
