Indians can look forward to availing internet services even on low-cost mobile handsets as the world's largest cell phone maker Nokia is gearing up to offer such handsets.
AMSTERDAM: Indians can look forward to availing internet services even on low-cost mobile handsets as the world's largest cell phone maker Nokia is gearing up to offer such handsets through which the web can be accessed.
"We are planning to bring internet access to all the masses in India through our low-cost handsets... the company is working diligently towards it," Nokia's Senior Vice President - Entry Business Unit (Mobile Phones Business Group) Soren Peterson.
He said using internet through GPRS takes a lot of time due to which the company is working on a new business model as there are "hundreds of million of users" of the internet.
"More than half of the new handsets sold every month in India comes from Nokia," he said when asked how many phones Nokia was selling in India.
India, which has overtaken the US to emerge as the second largest market by sales for Nokia after China, has been adding over six million new mobile users every month.
Nokia also aims to be the number one in bringing the internet to mobile devices. According to estimates, the total internet services market will be approximately 100 billion euros in 2010.
On the emerging competition for the company here, he said, "Nokia is placed very well competitively. There are no serious challenges to our product portfolio."
Nokia, which launches over 40 new models every year, also comes out with new models suited for the emerging markets, including India and China.
"All entry level products take into account the factors of one or the other emerging market," he said.
The company is also expecting over 15 per cent growth in volumes of mobile devices in Asia Pacific, including India and China, Middle East and Africa in 2008.
Nokia had last week announced an investment of 75 million dollars in 2008 in its manufacturing plant in Chennai, India, which employs about 6,000 people.
"This investment is geared towards enhancing the capacity of the manufacturing plant to cater to the burgeoning need of the Indian and other emerging markets," the company had said.
It had also announced an investment of 150 million dollars in 2006 for four years. However, it has already invested 210 million dollars in its Chennai operations.
Currently, about 50 per cent of the production from the plant is consumed domestically and the rest exported to countries across the Middle East and Africa, Asia, Australia and New Zealand.
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