Affordable tech maker Datawind that manufactured the Aakash tablet recently allocated around Rs 150 crore in order to launch mobile phones that support free basic internet connectivity initially for a year.
Regarding this, Datawind Founder and CEO Suneet Singh Tuli claimed that the firm is in talks with a telecom operator to launch mobile news with free basic internet for a year and that the pricing of the handsets will be Rs 3,000 per unit. He added that Datawind has raised 30 million Canadian dollars that translates to Rs 150 crore via a public offer that is allotted for the project.
He further noted that the industry experts claim that it is estimated that 76 percent of the mobile device buyers prefer to buy phones that are priced in the sub Rs 4,000 price bracket. It is also predicted that 60 percent of them choose to buy phones that are in the sub Rs 2,000 price bracket.
Datawind’s Tuli further added that most potential customers are not users of Internet services and in order to lure them to use Internet the firm has managed to come up with such devices. It is claimed that they will grow it gradually tapping into the segment to a larger extent.
It is revealed by the Datawind founder that the firm has already given proof of concept to the telecom service providers and the signing of the final agreement is the only one that is pending. He added that the final deal will be signed hopefully by the end of February as they will also gain from the hike in the data usage by then.
Datawind has asked the operator to bill it only for the Internet that their users access from the Datawind servers. He further added that they have already set up the distribution to reach the target customers. The firm teamed up with HomeShop18 online retailer earlier this month. Also, in the past six months has partnered with UniverCell inSouth India, Spice Retail in North and West and its own distribution network in the East.
