Alcatel plans open-market handset sales

In a shift from its usual strategy to sell handsets through mobile carriers, Alcatel One Touch is set to start selling handsets in the open market in India. Globally, most of its sales are through mobile service providers, a model that could not be replicated in India, as the market here is dominated by pre-paid users.

Alcatel also sells handsets in the open market in Latin America.

Hong Kong-listed TCL, which purchased the Alcatel phone business in 2005 from Alcatel-Lucent, owns Alcatel One Touch.

It is banking on the fast-growing smartphone market in India, which accounts for 10-15 per cent of the country's handset market. "Smartphone is one of our core strengths. During the past few years, we have been selling feature phones in India. But the market for feature phone is not one where we can do a good job in India. With the expansion of 3G and the expected 4G roll-out, we expect the smartphone market to grow many-fold in the next few years. The opportunity needs to be captured in time; only carrier-driven sales would not be enough," said Praveen Valecha, regional director for Asia-Pacific, Alcatel One Touch.

The company, which recently launched the world's slimmest smartphone in India, plans to price products below the price points of market leaders such as Samsung.

Valecha said the company had already tied up with Future Group's Big Bazaar, Salora and Value Plus to leverage their retail and distribution networks in pushing Alcatel handsets in the open market. It had also tied up with 52 distributors across the country and its products would be sold through about 5,000 retail touch points, Valecha said.

"We will also sell through India's top 10 e-commerce portals, including eBay, Flipkart and Snapdeal. We expect the majority of our sales in India to come from e-commerce sites in the next two to three years," he added.

However, the company would continue its partnership with Idea Cellular, its majority revenue contributor.

Alcatel planned to spend about $3 million on marketing in India this year and aimed to capture five per cent of the Indian smartphone market, against about one per cent last year, said Valecha. The Chinese handset maker also plans to launch 4G handsets in India before Diwali. "We may go for carrier-driven sales for 4G handsets or consider the open-market model, depending on the market," he added.

A SMART MOVE?

* In a shift from its traditional model of operation, Alcatel One Touch is set to start selling handsets in the open market in India

* Globally, most of its sales are through mobile service providers

* Alcatel also sells handsets in the open market in Latin America

* It recently launched the world's slimmest smartphone in India