Two lakhs Freedom 251 handsets ready for sales, says Ringing Bells CEO

After numerous twists and turns, Ringing Bells Pvt. Ltd has finally managed to bring the world’s cheapest smartphone to market. Freedom 251, priced at Rs. 251, is ready for delivery with two lakhs devices, said the company’s Founder and CEO Mohit Goel. The delivery will begin on June 30.

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According to the announcement provided by Ringing Bells in February, it was planning to sell 25 lakhs unit before June 30. However, the registrations went high to seven crores, leading to the failure of the payment gateway.

Goel has assured that the registrations will be opened again after the first phase of delivery. In his conversation to IANS, he said that the company is facing a loss of Rs. 140 – Rs. 150 per unit. However, he expects to compensate this loss by selling more number of devices.

“We will have a loss, but I am happy that the dream of connecting rural and poor Indians as part of the ‘Digital India’ and ‘Make in India’ initiatives has been fulfilled with ‘Freedom 251‘,” Goel said. He also added that the company has manufactured the handset at their Haridwar-based manufacturing unit.

There were several allegations against in company as the experts in the field claimed that a mobile handset cannot be manufactured for less than Rs. 2000. Thus, the company came under the radar of the authorities.

A prototype handset was released to the media earlier for the review, but they were found to be from a Delhi-based importer Adcom. The phone’s design and specifications were found to be identical to the Adcom Ikon 4. However, the company insisted that only the body and the parts come from Adcom.