Reliance Mobile,Coolpad In Handset Distribution Tie-up

Reliance Mobile aims to aggressively foray into handset retailing business with its. Reliance Webstore Limited, the retail venture of Reliance ADA Group, The company has signed an strategic and exclusive distribution agreement with Coolpad Communication Private Limited. Coolpad Communications is the Indian Joint Venture of the Hong-Kong listed China Wireless Technologies Limited.

Presently “Coolpad” accounts for 15 percent of Reliance Communications’ high-end handset sales, the Coolpad cell phones comes in Dual Mode(CDMA+GSM) with their fancy design, high quality and multiple functionality.

This agreement marks Coolpad formal foray into the Indian handset market.

It also marks diversification of Reliance Webstore Ltd into open market handset retailing business through its exclusive Reliance World and Reliance Mobile stores.

Coolpad’s agreement with Reliance Webstore will allow it immediate market access across 700 cities in India where Reliance has its retail presence through its exclusive stores.

Reliance Webstore Limited will be the exclusive distributor of Coolpad’s range of handsets in India. Coolpad is one of the world’s largest dual-mode handset brands. Coolpad dual-mode’s unique advantage lies in the fact that it can have two SIM cards (typically CDMA+GSM) in the same handset.

The company is planning to roll-out five models of Coolpad dual-mode handsets in India by December 2009. Commenting on the agreement, Mr Sarup Chowdhary, Director & CEO, Reliance Webstore Limited said, “Our agreement with Coolpad Communications follows the successful test marketing of the brand across several cities in India. The dual-mode smartphones will leverage Reliance’s nationwide presence in both CDMA & GSM services.

The agreement with Coolpad is strategic to our larger participation in the Indian telecom retail sector.” Commenting on its partnership with Reliance ADA Group Company, Mr Guo Deying, Chairman & CEO, China Wireless Technologies Limited said: “The partnership with Reliance ADA Group marks the commencement of our global journey. We selected India as our first global destination in acknowledgment of the fact that it offers immense potential to create significant milestones in our global expansion plans. Reliance ADA Group’s success in the world’s fastest growing Indian telecom sector offered a right fit for us to partner with its retail company—Reliance Webstore Limited.

China Wireless’ India Joint Venture Head and Coolpad’s Managing Director, Mr Sami Al-Lawati said, “Coolpad’s entry into India is timed to tap India’s 3G market potential as we plan to introduce 3G-enabled dual-mode smartphones in the market soon.

Our partnership with Reliance Webstore Limited will help us access end-consumers in over 700 Indian cities, enabling Coolpad to drive product development in line with specific customer needs.” Coolpad’s India foray is the company’s first overseas venture. This is in line with China Wireless’ strategy to penetrate overseas markets and take a leadership stance in the global dual-mode market segment. As part of its global outlook, the company is furtherexpanding in the global telecommunications markets by establishing strong and strategic relationships with global telecommunications operators.

Coolpad & Reliance Webstore will roll out smartphones in the sub-8000 price-range. Besides being a high value proposition, this disruptive pricing strategy will enable Coolpad to get an instant foothold in the high-growth smartphone market as well as enable the company to escalate mass adoption of smartphones in India.

India, with its growing smartphone user base, offers Coolpad the perfect opportunity to pursue its global ambitions. Currently, 4% of the mobile phones sold in India are smartphones. The Indian smartphone market is expected to cross 20 million handsets by 2010, with nearly 50% of the volumes being contributed by business users. Moreover, India currently enjoys the unique position of being the highest growth potential economy in the global smartphone market.

As its long term outlook in India, Coolpad will focus on capitalizing on its R&D strength and expanding its high-end dual-mode smartphone market share through delivery of additional high quality and feature-rich smartphones.