Spice-Huawei collaborate to launch S Huawei Ascend Y100 for Rs. 5,990

The B K Modi-led group, which already sells mobile phones under the brands - Spice (India) and S Nexian (other markets), will offer the Huawei devices under the 'S Huawei' brand.

"We are launching S Ascend Y100 now and in the next two months, we will launch three more devices. We are already selling 7.5 million feature phones (globally) and by December 2013, we should be selling another 2.5 million Android phones under Spice, S Nexian and S Huawei brands," says Spice Group Global Chairman Bhupendra Kumar Modi.

The S Huawei Ascend Y100 runs on Android 2.3 Gingerbread platform and is powered by an 800 MHz processor, has a 2.8-inch touchscreen and a 3.2 megapixel camera. It comes with the price tag of Rs. 5,990.

"There will be exclusive phones that will be launched under the S Huawei brand. Though they will be in competition with Android phones in the Spice brand as well, there will be differentiation and we will focus on growing both the brands," Modi said.

He added that 70 percent of the sales for Spice Group come from India, followed by other markets like Indonesia and Thailand.

Spice aims to sell about 1.5 million Android 2G, Wi-Fi and 3G handsets and another one million devices through its partnership with Huawei.

"The Group is already a leading telecom solution provider. We have made significant investments in the business and will continue to do so to establish ourselves as a serious player in the category," Modi said. He added that the Group has recently set up an innovation centre in Singapore as well as a Knowledge Park in Noida.

"We have already invested $100 million in the devices business and going ahead, we plan to put in another $200 million. There is no specific timeline and we will fund the business as and when required," he said.

The company has 1,250 stores in retail and distribution and it plans to expand this number to 5,000 stores across India, Singapore, Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand and parts of Africa.