ZTE, the China-based sixth-largest mobile phone handsets maker, wants to enter the retail market in India by the end of this year.

ZTE to rollout its own line soon

So far, its handsets were sold by telecom service providers such as Reliance Communications, Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd, Vodafone, Bharti and Tata Teleservices as their own —- that is, the phones carried the service provider's brandname, not ZTE's.

ZTE looks for Indian partner for R&D

Once the company retails on its own, the handsets would carry the ZTE monogram —- just the way other manufacturers such as Nokia, Motorola, LG and Samsung sell.

D.K. Ghosh, chairman & managing director of ZTE Telecom India, said on Thursday that the company would retail phones in China first, followed by the US and India.

While the India launch is expected by the end of this year, substantial numbers would come after about six months, he said.

ZTE is aiming to sell handsets across price ranges, perhaps beginning at Rs 1,000 or less.

In 2007, the company sold about 30 million units. It aims to touch the 100 million sales mark by 2010 and 520 million by 2020.

ZTE's global turnover stood at $7 billion in 2007 of which 10 per cent or $700 million was estimated to have come from India. The company has sold 16 million handsets in India so far. Its current market share in India is 15-20 per cent, Ghosh said. That's far more than in the US, where it has 3-4 per cent spoils.

For ZTE, China holds the top spot in terms of market share —- just as it is for many other handset manufacturers, because of the sheer size of the market.

Can India trump China on this count?

"My personal opinion is that India can overtake China in 5-7 years," Ghosh said.

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That's mainly because the Chinese market could soon reach saturation point in terms of telecom penetration. India's teledensity is around 30 per cent now, affording far greater growth room.

Source:sify.com