Micromax to launch eight 4G smartphone under Rs 10,000

Micromax will launch eight 4G smartphones this year, all priced under Rs 10,000, which can be used on the high-speed networks of Reliance Jio Infocomm and Bharti Airtel, as India’s No. 1 domestic handset vendor tries to catch up with Chinese rivals that have cornered a major chunk of the fastest-growing smartphone segment.

“We are going to launch three 4G devices below $150 (Rs 9,900) within this month and by Diwali another five devices, which will be in the $100 range (Rs 6,600), so we will have a full portfolio below Rs 10,000,” Micromax Informatics CEO Vineet Taneja told ET.

The country’s second-largest smartphone maker is working closely with leading telco Airtel and new entrant Mukesh Ambani-owned Reliance Jio to make sure all the 4G handsets are compatible with their networks, Taneja said.

While Airtel has already launched its 4G services across some 300 cities and towns, Reliance Jio is expected to start operations in December. “Reliance wants to make sure that it can populate the market with devices as soon as possible because they’re a 4G-only player,” he added.

In the 4G segment, Micromax aims to corner a 30% share of the mass market, which has been the Gurgaon-based company’s stronghold. Market leader Samsung leads the 4G segment too, followed by China’s Lenovo and Xiaomi.

To achieve its target, Taneja said the company will not go with bundled services of a single operator as India will continue to be an open market and devices and services play will be in the same space but independently.

He did not rule out the possibility of co-branded 4G phones with Reliance Jio. “Never say never…But not this year,” he said.

Chinese and international brand players have taken early leads with 4G phones that have attractive specifications and are priced affordably. Micromax is the only Indian company among the top 10 4G device players, as per CMR. Its share shrank to 6% in quarter ended June 2015, from 10% in the previous quarter. On Wednesday, it launched the Canvas Fire 4G smartphone for about Rs 6,600 ($100), its fourth so far.

Taneja expects handset vendors to sell between 30 million and 50 million 4G smartphones within a year as carriers aggressively push the new service. This, he said, would be much higher than the 15 million-20 million devices available in 2011 when 3G services were launched. Prices of 3G smartphones dropped to the Rs 5,000 mark, their lowest level, only last year.

Vodafone India plans to start 4G services in five key cities in December, coinciding with Jio, and Idea Cellular expects to launch next year. The 4G network ecosystem, Taneja said, is likely to proliferate faster than 3G, which took about four years to become “ubiquitous and accessible.”

Micromax may launch a 4G smartphone priced upwards of Rs 13,000 ($200), targeting the mid-end of the market, towards the end of the year on chip maker Mediatek’s Helio platform.