Nokia to bring 4G, 3G phones at lower prices in India

Erstwhile market leader Nokia has indicated it may enter into a price war for 4G and 3G mobile phones as it struggles to regain the top position which it lost in 2012 to South Korea's Samsung, presently the largest selling brand in India.

'We want to continue to push price points lower and lower than anything we have today. That's the statement for both 3G and LTE (4G) because that is the thing which gives us scale of the ecosystem,' Microsoft's Mobile Device Sales, Corporate Vice President Chris Weber told PTI in an interview.

US IT giant Microsoft now owns Nokia's mobile phone business. The company leadership position was adversely impacted mainly due to abundant flow of cheap Chinese phones.

Nokia's cheapest 4G phone Lumia 635 is priced around ₹ 11,300 before taxes but it is not available in India.

'We are also trying to push price point even lower on LTE devices like 635 to take advantage of that (Indian telecom operators plan to launch 4G services) opportunity. The goal is to make sure that we have a full portfolio that plays in to that opportunity,' Weber said.

The company has plans to launch its latest 4G-enabled phone Lumia 830 priced at around ₹ 26,000 before taxes by October, as per sources.

Microsoft Devices also unveiled another 4G-enabled handset Lumia 735 priced at around ₹ 17,500 but sources were not sure about company's plan to launch this model in India.

Shortage of affordable devices to access 4G services has been identified as one of the main reason for many telecom operators not rolling out 4G network in the country.

Consumers may get about 10-12 times more Internet speed on mobile phones in 4G compared to average speed they get using 3G services.

Reliance Jio Infocomm holds pan India broadband wireless spectrum, which can be used for 4G services, since mid 2010.

The company has announced its plan to launch the latest telecom service in 2015. As per rules, 2015 is the last year for all companies who won BWA spectrum to roll out services in at least 90 % of the service areas, failing which the Department of Telecom will have the right to withdraw the radio waves.