Nokia, the market leader in cellular phones, has brought down the entry-level cost of its handsets to below Rs 4,000.
The company informed dealers last week that the price of the Nokia 3315 was being slashed to Rs 3,881.
Dealers said, they would sell the handsets to consumers below Rs 4,000. Before the cut, Nokia 3315 was sold for Rs 4,415.
The top brass at Nokia could not be contacted for comments.
However, analysts said the move is in sync with the trend in the cellular market, where tariffs have dropped dramatically, making cellular phones a mass product.
Nokia is taking competition at the entry-level seriously. This is evident from the fact that the company recently announced the launch of two new entry-level models -- Nokia 1100 and Nokia 2300.
While the Nokia 1100 is expected to hit the market in the fourth quarter of 2003, the Nokia 2300 may hit the market the first quarter of 2004.
The drop in prices comes close on the heels of the entry of Shanghai-based Bird International in the GSM handset space. Bird's entry-level handset is priced at Rs 3,000.
Incidentally, the price cut is not just restricted to the entry level. The Nokia 3650, which used to cost around 21,000, is now available for Rs 18,400.
Industry sources said, cellular companies were facing pricing pressure, as growth in developed countries was stagnating.
The cellphone major is angling for roughly a 600 million strong market of potential subscribers worldwide from countries such as India, Thailand, Indonesia, the Philippines, China, Russia and Brazil to help bring in the next billion mobile phone subscribers.
These seven nations constitute the world's fastest growing mobile communications market.
The mobile phone user base is estimated at about 1.2 billion. The number is expected to reach 2 billion in the next four to five years.
This is based a study by research firm In-Stat/MD, which estimated that 186 million new cellphone subscribers will be signing up every year between now and 2007.
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