Micromax denies interest in Korean handset maker Pantech

NEW DELHI: Micromax Informatics has been approached for investment by troubled South Korean handset maker Pantech Co Ltd, but India’s largest home-bred mobile phone maker isn’t "enthused" by the proposal, a top executive said, refuting a media report that the company is in talks for buying a stake in the Asian company.

"We keep getting proposals from different companies but we’re not seriously considering them at the moment. We had been approached by Pantech, but we were not enthused by it," the official told ET, asking not to be named.

Officially, Micromax declined to comment, saying such a matter isn’t being considered by its board.

According to a Reuters news report, Micromax has expressed interest in buying into Pantech, South Korea’s thirdlargest smartphone maker that has been struggling with huge losses due to fierce competition from tougher rivals.

Pantech, owned by Qualcomm Inc, Samsung Electronics and nine creditor banks, has been under a debt-restructuring programme after suffering six consecutive quarters of losses due to competition at home, where 70% of all Koreans use smartphones.

Micromax, India’s secondlargest smartphone maker with a 16% share, has made a living out of selling affordable smartphones to price sensitive consumers. Presently, the company sells about 3 million handsets a month, of which a third are smartphones. Samsung is the market leader in India by a long distance.

Buying Pantech would get the Indian company high-end design capabilities and manufacturing plants, which would help them compete better with global peers like Samsung, analysts say. It would reduce Micromax’s time-to-market, thus allowing them to launch products at the same time as global peers, rather than following the leaders with cheaper devices, they add.

Micromax, which already sells its handsets in Saarc and Russia, would also get access to markets like the US and Japan, that Pantech serves. It has plans to increase international presence and climb up from the position of world’s 10th largest mobile phone maker.