Videocon eyes 100% growth in handset sales in 9 months

Electronics company Videocon targets to double monthly sales of its handsets to 15 lakh units in the next nine months as it aims to be among top five mobile phone players in the country.
"We have now built up competency in manufacturing where we are making phones for Videocon and other companies. We are looking to be among top five players in two years. We have set the target to double monthly mobile phone sales from 7.5 lakh to 15 lakh units in nine months," Videocon Technology Head Akshay Dhoot told PTI.
While Dhoot did not disclose the amount of investment that company would be making to push sales of mobile phones, he said that Videocon has earmarked Rs 1,000 crore to set up new manufacturing unit and upgrade existing plant which includes mobile phone facility as well.

"Market continuously looks for new technology in mobile phones. We will launch 20-25 mobile phones, all made in India, by the end of this year. This will be mix of 4G VoLTE smartphone and feature phone in equal ratio," Dhoot said.
The company is set to launch in a week Videocon Ultra 50 smartphone with curved design and glass body on both sides for Rs 8,990.
"Curved bezel design and new finger sensor technology talks about manufacturing competency. In Ultra 50 we have finger touch sensor on front which is a unique feature giving quick access to phone. It has multi-tasking feature which enables function like using of dual Whatsapp account on single phone," Dhoot said.

Ultra 50, a 4G VoLTE device, will be available on Amazon as well as on offline stores. It has 3GB RAM, 32 GB internal memory and supports 64 GB expandable memory. It comes with 13 megapixel rear camera and 5 MP front camera. The phone has LED flash on both sides.

"Ultra 50 is VoLTE phone and gradually all our smartphone will be 4G VoLTE. We will stop 3G smartphone production by end of this year. 3GB RAM, 32GB internal storage, 3000 mAH etc are going to be standard feature across phones. We are creating difference in design and technologies," Dhoot said.

"We are also looking to resolve heating problem in phones with metallic body. Once we are able to do it then we will launch them. We will have smartphones in the price range of Rs 4,500 to Rs 18,000 by end of this fiscal," Dhoot said.
The company is selling mobile phones across 70,000 retail counters and is working to add 30,000 retail points by end of this year.