Private telecom major Reliance Communications has placed an order for two million CDMA handsets with Finnish telecom major Nokia.
The European handset major is hawking the handsets at around Rs 2,000 a piece to customers, which will be bundled with Reliance's services.
"Reliance is sourcing handsets from Nokia at a comparatively cheaper price, and this is made possible due to the bulk order that the Indian company has placed with the global mobile instrument provider," sources close to the development told Business Standard.
Currently, Nokia is one of the handset providers to the Anil Ambani group company. However, its products are mainly in the upper band - in the range of Rs 5,000 and above.
The Finnish company is expecting to provide its Nokia 1255 series of handsets under the deal with the first shipment will commence by the end of this week.
The companies are also expected to announce the deal soon, sources said. When contacted Reliance Communications officials declined to comment on the development.
At present, South Korean chaebol LG Electronics is the only handset-maker providing instruments in the Rs 2,000 range to Reliance Communications.
The Indian CDMA provider is bundling over 25 models - both high and low-end models - from various companies like Motorola, Samsung and LG.
Earlier, Nokia had signed a similar contract with Reliance Communications (then Reliance Infocomm) for its 'Monsoon Hungama' scheme.
The company had offered CDMA 2000 1X Nokia 2280 handsets under the scheme, which was marketed by Nokia and Reliance distribution channel, including Reliance Webworld and Reliance Independent Sales Agents.