LG eyes 4m handset sales by 2008

LG India plans to increase the number of its GSM handsets from 1.5 million to 4 million handsets by next year, reports Ruchi Hajela.

LG India plans to increase the number of its GSM handsets from 1.5 million to 4 million handsets by next year.

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"The company plans to achieve this by launching another 21 handsets next year increasing the total number of GSM handsets in its kitty to 31 from existing 10," Anil Arora, Business Group Head, GSM, LG Electronics India Pvt Ltd told reporters.

The first one in line-up for 2008 is a Windows Mobile based handset that is expected to be launched in January 2008. The company will be focussing on low end and premium segment of handsets. The company has launched two premium handsets this year.

"We will be investing around Rs 145 crore for the marketing of these handsets over the next one year," Arora told Hindustan Times. LG will also be expanding its retail presence from the existing 15,000 retail outlets to about 55,000-60,000 outlets by next year.

LG's annual turnover in 2006 was about Rs 8,250 crore out of which around Rs 425 crore came from the GSM segment, while this year GSM's contribution to the revenue accounts to about Rs 500 crore. The company has around 1.7 market share in the GSM handset business.