Local firm set to assemble low-cost mobile handsets
Saturday, 8 May 2010
Mehdi Musharraf Bhuiyan
A Chittagong-based IT research institute Thursday unveiled plans to assemble low-cost cell phones in the country to tap into the fast- booming mobile handset market.
The Premier University IT Institute, which is a subsidiary of Chittagong City Corporation, would start assembling mobile phone handsets in the next six months, said Taufique Sayeed, project Director of the institute.
The up and coming IT research lab last year became one of the few local firms to assemble desktop and notebook PCs in Bangladesh and its success prompted the institute to set up a plant to produce mobile handsets, Sayeed said.
"The retail price of our mobile phone will be just Tk. 2000, which will be one of the cheapest in the country," he said.
Bangladesh has over 55 million mobile phone users but all the sets have been imported from China and South-east Asia.
According to the Bangladesh Mobile Phone Importers Association, local traders and multinational companies last year imported 6.83 million mobile handsets through legal channel. Another 2.4 million sets were smuggled into the country.
"But all the sets were made abroad. Their import drained out a huge amount of foreign exchange. Bangladeshi firms such as Premier can easily produce bulk of these sets here," Sayeed said.
Institute officials said although the expected price range of their handsets are estimated to be around Tk 2,000 actual price would come down even further "if the government offers subsidy on the import of mobile accessories".
The ambitious plan follows success of the institute's premier brand laptop and desktop personal computers in the local market. It launched the computers in March this year, offering prices far lower than other brands.
A Chittagong-based IT research institute Thursday unveiled plans to assemble low-cost cell phones in the country to tap into the fast- booming mobile handset market.
The Premier University IT Institute, which is a subsidiary of Chittagong City Corporation, would start assembling mobile phone handsets in the next six months, said Taufique Sayeed, project Director of the institute.
The up and coming IT research lab last year became one of the few local firms to assemble desktop and notebook PCs in Bangladesh and its success prompted the institute to set up a plant to produce mobile handsets, Sayeed said.
"The retail price of our mobile phone will be just Tk. 2000, which will be one of the cheapest in the country," he said.
Bangladesh has over 55 million mobile phone users but all the sets have been imported from China and South-east Asia.
According to the Bangladesh Mobile Phone Importers Association, local traders and multinational companies last year imported 6.83 million mobile handsets through legal channel. Another 2.4 million sets were smuggled into the country.
"But all the sets were made abroad. Their import drained out a huge amount of foreign exchange. Bangladeshi firms such as Premier can easily produce bulk of these sets here," Sayeed said.
Institute officials said although the expected price range of their handsets are estimated to be around Tk 2,000 actual price would come down even further "if the government offers subsidy on the import of mobile accessories".
The ambitious plan follows success of the institute's premier brand laptop and desktop personal computers in the local market. It launched the computers in March this year, offering prices far lower than other brands.