The Kerala-based BPL Telecom Pvt Ltd has announced the launch of its range of GSM mobile handsets with a host of innovative features.
The company, which manufactures and sells push button telephones, cordless phones, EPABX systems and power line carrier communications systems, had added mobile handsets to its line up of manufactured products.
"It is the first Indian company to manufacture GSM Mobile Phones," N Gopinath, general manager (sales), BPL Telecom, told reporters in Kochi on Wednesday.
Of the earmarked investment amount of Rs 50 crore (Rs 500 million) for GSM Mobile by this March, Rs 24 crore (Rs 240 million) had already been invested in the handset manufacturing facility, he said adding of the seven models launched, two are manufactured in-house while the other five are outsourced from Kerala.
These handsets are priced between Rs 3600 and Rs 11,000 and cater to all the needs of the market like polyphonic ring tones, MMS, EMS, GPRS, colour 65K TFT, dual LCD panels and camera with multi-shot options, he said.
The company was hopeful of launching around 20 to 25 handset models in the next fiscal, he said adding while the high-end models would be imported, the rest would be manufactured locally. An entry-level model was planned to be launched before this March, he said.