Spice betting on UP for bigger share of smartphone market

Homegrown Spice Mobiles is betting on Uttar Pradesh to increase its share in the smart phone category.

UP is the largest mobile phone market in India having over 148 million cell phone connections at present. “Smart phone users are rising rapidly in UP across rural and urban centres riding on the mobile internet revolution sweeping the country,” Spice Mobility CEO Prashant Bindal said here.

Meanwhile, the company on Wednesday launched India’s first Android One Hindi smart phone ‘Spice Dream Uno H’ in UP. The phone is targeted at the over 500 million Hindi speaking population spread across different states in the northern and central India.

He said the sale of smart phones was rising in smaller towns driving the growth in the mobile phone segment. Of the 20 million monthly sale of mobile phones in India, smart phones account for 5 million or 25 per cent, he claimed.

“We are bullish on UP and have already more than doubled our field force in the state by ramping up the number of territory managers from 15 to 35,” he informed. In eastern UP, the company has increased its number of dealerships to 20 from four earlier. “We are targeting to increase our point of sales in UP to 8,000 from 4,500 currently,” Bindal added.

Spice collaborated with Google to launch Android One brand of smart phones in India. “It would soon be launched in Nepal, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka. Later, we would target Thailand, Malaysia, Philippines and Indonesia,” he said.
TARGETING THE UP MARKET

• UP is the largest mobile phone market in India having over 148 million cell phone connections at present
• Smart phone users are rising rapidly in the state across rural and urban centres riding on the mobile internet revolution sweeping the country, the company says
• The company on Wednesday launched India’s first Android One Hindi smart phone ‘Spice Dream Uno H’ in the state
• The phone is targeted at the over 500 million Hindi speaking population in northern and central India