Idea sells 8 lakh branded smartphones since mid-2012

MUMBAI: Third largest mobile operator Idea Cellular today said that it has sold eight lakh branded smartphones over the past 30 months and added that over three- fourths of them are still with it.

"We have sold 8 lakh smartphone handsets through our network in the last two-and-a-half years, and around 75-80 per cent of them are continuing with Idea itself," chief marketing officer Sashi Shankar told reporters here.

Launching two new 3G smartphones targeted at the semi-urban and rural markets, he said this takes the company's branded smartphone offerings to 19.

Shankar said the company is targeting to sell up to 30,000 units of the handsets in the next two months.

Andhra, Kerala, Gujarat and Maharashtra are the most active markets for the company when it comes to bundled handset sales, accounting for around 75 per cent of sales, Shankar said.

The handsets launched today come in two screen sizes --- four and five inches, which will retail at Rs 4,999 and Rs 8,300, it said.

The phones, which come with Google's operating system Android, and will be sourced from Alcatel (four inch) and Compel (five inch).