Nokia eyes higher CDMA share

Having trebled its market share in the CDMA based handset, cellphone major Nokia has said the company would be working closely with leading service providers like Reliance Infocomm and Tatas to up its share further.

"We shall be working very closely with these two CDMA based mobile operators in India. We shall leverage our brand name to up our market share in the Indian market. Currently, we have 20 per cent of the market," Markku Virtanen, director, Nokia's CDMA business unit in Asia Pacific, told PTI.

Claiming to be a market leader in Australia, Indonesia and New Zealand, Virtanen said, "Nokia ranks among top three in India and Bangladesh."

He, however, said that Nokia had very aggressive plans for Indian in the months to come. Asked whether Nokia would accept the bulk orders for handsets as done by Reliance Infocomm, Virtanen said.

"No, we will only go through our distribution network and this has been discussed with service providers," he said. Nokia is setting up a handset manufacturing facility in Chennai in India primarily for the GSM based handsets.

Asked whether CDMA based handsets would also be manufactured at the same facility, the top officials said it was possible but no decision has yet been taken in this regard.

Following the business model practiced by Nokia for their GSM handsets, the company has launched four new handsets in the CDMA segment offering a variety to its consumers including Bluetooth-enabled phones - Nokia 2855 and 6165.

The new handsets would target the mid-tier customers and would be made commercially available in the Indian market during first half of 2006.

Other two handsets are Nokia 1255 and Nokia 2355 phones combining modern design with an attractive price front for growth markets. These handsets will be commercially available during the first quarter of 2006, he said.