Toshiba eyes Indian mobile phone market

Mumbai: Electronics and technology major Toshiba is planning to enter the mobile segment of the country''s growing wireless market. The Japanese company is expected to finalise plans by the end of this year.

The company is planning to tap the mobile market in India, Hong Kong, Taiwan and the European countries, reports quoting senior officials of the company said.

"India is a very large market for us and is growing very rapidly. Japan has already achieved 70-80 per cent mobile penetration, which is forcing us to look overseas to meet our corporate demands," Takeshi Aoki of Toshiba Corporation''s international operations division said on the sidelines of the ITU conference.

Toshiba plans to initially launch a GSM mobile handset in India, with subsequent roll-outs in phases. The company also has marketing arrangements with a UK-based trading company, he said. The company, which sells laptops, printers and television sets in India through HCL, has recently entered the home appliances market in India through its wholly owned subsidiary Toshiba India.

Toshiba, although a newcomer to the mobile phone scene, is banking on its reputation for innovation in technology. The company plans to apply the unique Toshiba brand of innovative thinking to its mobile phones to interest customers. Toshiba sells around five million mobile phones a year in Japan, one of the most competitive markets in the world. And as mobile services become more content-rich, these qualities are going to become more important than ever and Toshiba expects to deliver them better.