Cheap Chinese mobile sets elbowing out big names from local market
Wednesday, 26 May 2010
Monira Munni
Chinese origin mobile sets have seen a sharp rise in sales in the local market in the recent times mainly due to their low prices and other attractive technological features.
According to traders, 97 per cent of the mobile sets available in the local market are made in China.
They said the leading global mobile brands are now facing a tough challenge from these low-priced Chinese sets.
Big names like Nokia, Samsumg, LG, Siemens, Sagem and Sony Eriksson once dominating the scene, are now on the retreat. Even two years ago they dominated the market, but now they are facing challenges from the lesser known brands such as Symphony, Maximus, Sprint, Digital and I-Max.
"Most of such Chinese sets account for about 80 per cent of the monthly sales," Nizam Uddin Zitu, President of Bangladesh Mobile Phone Businessmen Association (BMBA), said.
Customers, especially low-end users, are showing less interest in known brands, which sell at double the price of a Chinese set but have less features, he told the FE Monday.
Nearly 80 per cent users-who change sets frequently-- use mobile sets worth Tk 2000 and 15 per cent use sets worth Tk 3000 while only 5 per cent use sets worth Tk 10,000 or above.
The users get Chinese sets at very low prices as 30-40 percent, accounting for more than 1.3 million mobile sets, enter the country illegally, the BMBA president said.
The BMBA demanded a flat tax rate of Tk 100 on each set to control smuggling in the sets as the importers now pay Tk 300 to Tk 6,000 in tax on each set.
Users also feel comfortable as importers give one-year warranty for such Chinese sets, said an official of the Siemens Bangladesh, which started marketing Maximus two years ago.
On an average, more than a million new mobile sets are sold in Bangladesh every month, as the Bangladesh Telecommunications Regulatory Commission statistics show the number of new connections hit 56.36 million in April from 54.7 million in March last.
Market sources said traders sell mobile sets worth Tk 3.0 billion (300 crore) each month.
They said appointed dealers almost stopped selling brands such as Motorola, Siemens, Sagem and Sony Eriksson in the local market.
Many of them rather started marketing low-priced Chinese sets to stay in the competition against the market leaders Nokia and Samsung.
There are around 300 mobile set importers in Bangladesh, according to the BTRC statistics. But only 30 to 40 businessmen are active, Mr Zitu said.
Chinese origin mobile sets have seen a sharp rise in sales in the local market in the recent times mainly due to their low prices and other attractive technological features.
According to traders, 97 per cent of the mobile sets available in the local market are made in China.
They said the leading global mobile brands are now facing a tough challenge from these low-priced Chinese sets.
Big names like Nokia, Samsumg, LG, Siemens, Sagem and Sony Eriksson once dominating the scene, are now on the retreat. Even two years ago they dominated the market, but now they are facing challenges from the lesser known brands such as Symphony, Maximus, Sprint, Digital and I-Max.
"Most of such Chinese sets account for about 80 per cent of the monthly sales," Nizam Uddin Zitu, President of Bangladesh Mobile Phone Businessmen Association (BMBA), said.
Customers, especially low-end users, are showing less interest in known brands, which sell at double the price of a Chinese set but have less features, he told the FE Monday.
Nearly 80 per cent users-who change sets frequently-- use mobile sets worth Tk 2000 and 15 per cent use sets worth Tk 3000 while only 5 per cent use sets worth Tk 10,000 or above.
The users get Chinese sets at very low prices as 30-40 percent, accounting for more than 1.3 million mobile sets, enter the country illegally, the BMBA president said.
The BMBA demanded a flat tax rate of Tk 100 on each set to control smuggling in the sets as the importers now pay Tk 300 to Tk 6,000 in tax on each set.
Users also feel comfortable as importers give one-year warranty for such Chinese sets, said an official of the Siemens Bangladesh, which started marketing Maximus two years ago.
On an average, more than a million new mobile sets are sold in Bangladesh every month, as the Bangladesh Telecommunications Regulatory Commission statistics show the number of new connections hit 56.36 million in April from 54.7 million in March last.
Market sources said traders sell mobile sets worth Tk 3.0 billion (300 crore) each month.
They said appointed dealers almost stopped selling brands such as Motorola, Siemens, Sagem and Sony Eriksson in the local market.
Many of them rather started marketing low-priced Chinese sets to stay in the competition against the market leaders Nokia and Samsung.
There are around 300 mobile set importers in Bangladesh, according to the BTRC statistics. But only 30 to 40 businessmen are active, Mr Zitu said.