Huawei aims at 15% Indian GSM handset space by 2015; to launch tablet after July

NEW DELHI: Huawei Devices, a subsidiary of Chinese networks major Huawei Technologies, plans to grab 15% of the Indian handset market by 2015, president for India device business Victor Shan said on Wednesday.

Huawei Devices, which sells set-top-boxes, data dongles and CDMA handsets in India, is slowly changing its focus to the GSM space and plans to sell 300,000 to 400,000 GSM handsets this year. It will invest 5-6% of its Indian revenues coming from selling devices into augmenting distribution channels and retail point of sales, senior executives added. The company earned $ 490 million from Indian device revenues last financial year.

Having cornered a 30% share in the business-to-business CDMA handset space over many years in India, the company now intends to take 5-7% of the GSM market by selling high-end handsets or smart-phones directly to consumers.

Sales from the CDMA handset market in India have dropped from 8 million to 3 million over the last three years, also instigating it to look at other avenues. However, Huawei executives said the company would not exit the business if market demand remains.

The Chinese manufacturer also plans to launch its tablet, S7 in India between July and September which will compete with Samsung’s Galaxy Tab, Apple’s iPad and tablets from other Chinese manufacturers such as G’Five, which has announced a price point of Rs 10,000.