Samsung plans high-end CDMA handsets

Kolkata: Samsung Telecommunications is planning to come up with a series of medium to high-end CDMA phones in India, independent of Tata Indicom with whom it has partnered to launch its "Explore", the country''s first ''mobile web browser''.

Vice-president and head of Samsung''s CDMA division, Hyunbai Kim, said the company plans to launch many other models with the same mobile web browser technology, which uses the Qualcomm Single Chip (QSC). Most of these can be expected in coming months, at price points lower than the Rs5,499 at which the Explore is currently available.

The company is also evaluating options to launch more CDMA phones, albeit independently, as it wants to avoid a price war at the lower-end of the mobile handsets market.

Samsung''s manufactures its CDMA handsets in China and Korea. According to Kim, the market for CDMA handsets is a 20-million unit, which generates $80 million in revenues.

Tata Indicom, with its subscriber base of 20 million, is looking to acquire market share with the Explore, according to Pankaj Sethi, president, value-added services business unit, Tata Teleservices.

The Explore addresses limitations in mobile internet access that are faced by WAP users. Mobile WAP browsers can access limited sites, which are WAP enabled, and moreover, access speeds are relatively slow.

With the Explore, browsing would be more comfortable as pages load in under 30 seconds. Video streaming at this point would not be a feature, according to company sources.