Celkon in talks for a JV with telcos in Sri Lanka, Bangladesh

HYDERABAD: Hyderabad-based Celkon Mobiles is in talks with telecom players in Sri Lanka and Bangladesh for a possible tie up after joining hands with Dubai’s largest telco, Etisalat, said a top executive. Through such tie ups and focus on export, the company expects its export revenue to grow from less than 5% currently to 10% in a couple of years.

Speaking to reporters in Hyderabad on Monday, Murali Retineni, executive director, Celkon Mobiles, said, “We are at an advance stage of talks with telecom players in Sri Lanka and Bangladesh for a possible tie up wherein our mobile phones would be bundled with their SIM cards and sold in the market.”

He was speaking on the sidelines of the launch of Celkon's two new phones, Celkon U and Celkon Mega priced at Rs 5,999 and Rs 6,400 respectively.


The company had earlier joined hands with Dubai’s largest telecom player Etisalat Group. “With such tie-ups and expansion of its export markets, the company expects to increase share of export revenues from less than 5% to 10% in a couple of years,” said Retineni.

To support the growing demand, the company is setting up its second production plant in Tirupati with an investment of Rs 50 crore after one unit in Hyderabad with a collective capacities of 10 lakh phones a year.