Celkon Mobiles will start exporting phones to Bangladesh and a few African countries by this month-end. The company, which has sponsored the recent cricket series in West Indies and Zimbabwe, will continue to sponsor the cricketing events in Africa whether India plays or not. The company will set up a base in South Africa and appoint representatives in Zimbabwe and Kenya to steer sales.
“We will have 10 employees there initially who will talk to the local distributors. There is a good demand for Indian mobile brands. Our recent sponsorship of the Zimbabwe series helped us get mileage there,” Y. Guru, Chairman and Managing Director of Celkon Mobiles, told Business Line . “Initially, we will focus on South Africa, Zimbabwe and Kenya and will pan out to other African countries,” he said.
The company, which registered a turnover of Rs 600 crore in 2012-13, is hoping to double the turnover in 2013-14. “We are going to launch 10 more smartphones in the range of Rs 3,500-17,000 in the next few months,” he said. The company launched two smartphones on Tuesday, targeting student community in a price range of Rs 4,499 to Rs 5,119. The A63, A60 phones work on Android Jelly Bean and 1.2 GHz dual core processor and 1 GHz processor, respectively.