Zen Mobile lines up Rs 50 crore advt spend

New Delhi-based dual-SIM mobile handsets player Zen Mobile, part of the over Rs 1,000-crore Teelecare Group, is lining up Rs 50 crore for above-the-line and below-the-line promotional activities during the 2010 calendar, to popularise its existing and soon-to-be launched models in the interior parts of the country.

“Our first television commercial, across all the regional languages including Telugu, Tamil, Kannada, Hindi, Bengali, Oriya and Malayalam, will roll out in February 2010 with a budget of Rs 20 crore. The rest will be spent on regional print and online advertising and out-of-home (OOH) campaigns,” Vaibhav Shastri, chief executive officer of Zen Mobile, told Business Standard.

Zen Mobile is also contemplating setting up an exclusive retail chain by the end of next year, once its strengthens its distribution reach across the country. The company currently sells 150,000 units of its Indian Cellular Association-certified nine mid-level and high-end models a month, with prices ranging from Rs 1,850 to Rs 4,500.

“We plan to open close to 100 retail outlets, each involving an investment of Rs 10 lakh, through the franchisee model,” Shastri said, adding with new telecom operators slashing call rates and customers in Tier-II and Tier-III cities going in for multiple SIMs to benefit from these low-tariff plans, the company would focus on these B and C centres.

At present, the mobile handset market in India, with over 50 domestic and international brands, is pegged at 8.5 million units a month, of which dual SIM phones account for 2 million per month. The product lifecycle of any phone will not be more than three to five months.

“Hence, we need to launch new models with focus on quality and affordability in terms of pricing. We plan to launch two new models every month,” Shastri said, adding rolling out a basic dual SIM phone for Rs 1,500, which comprises all the features including an FM radio, Bluetooth and MP3 player sans a touch-screen and a camera, is on the cards.