Motorola plans for increased Indian presence

Handset giant Motorola Inc is betting on widening its market share in India by improving distribution, getting into bundling arrangements and broadening its financing deals, officials said on Tuesday.

Demand for handsets is soaring in India, the world's fastest-growing wireless services market, which added as many as 6.7 million new mobile services users in October.

"Market places like India are great volume opportunities," Allen Burnes, corporate vice president for Motorola's mobile devices business in high growth markets, told the media in an interview.

"There is massive industrial growth happening, and the burgeoning youth segment has disposable incomes never seen before." Motorola ranks second behind Nokia, as it does globally, in the booming Indian market, where huge demand is coming from rural areas and smaller towns. Mobile penetration is still only 13 per cent in a population of over a billion people.

Motorola has tied up with top five Indian carriers such as Bharti Airtel Ltd, Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd and Hutchison Essar Ltd to offer handsets to customers.

Source: ISource updates