Chinese partner Transsion picks 80% stake in Spice Mobile

Brand to compete in the mid-category segment with Samsung, Nokia, Micromax

Chinese communications firm Transsion Holding has picked up 80 per cent stake in Spice Mobile as it aims to garner a larger market share in the fiercely competitive Indian mobile handset market.

"The brand Spice mobile was transferred to a special purpose vehicle (SPV). In the joint venture company, Transsion holds 80 per cent stake while the Modis of the Spice Group hold the remaining 20 per cent," a senior official told PTI who did not want to be quoted.

However, Transsion has no plan to buy out the remaining stake of the SPV.

With this deal, Transsion is handling manufacturing, sourcing and marketing Spice brand phones in India

Transsion has adopted a multi-brand strategy in India positioning each brand for each segment of the huge Indian handset market.

"We want to reposition Spice in the mid-category segment of both feature and smartphones to compete with established brands catering to these segments (Rs 800-Rs 9,000) including Samsung, Nokia and Micromax," the official said.

Spice was among the top three highest selling handset brand even a few years back and had strong a brand recall.

"We are offering a one-year replacement warranty against standard 100 days of other brands," he said.

Transsion began its Indian journey with Itel, a mass market feature phone. It also has Techno -- its offline smartphone brand and online brand Infinix.