Mobile handset maker Coolpad Overseas, a joint venture between Hong Kong-listed China Wireless Technologies and XXX, is planning to introduce 15 new CDMA handset models in the country as part of its plans to strengthen its presence in the domestic mobile market.

Plans are also being finalised to set up an Rs 100 crore R&D facility in India by the end of next year and, at a latter date, a manufacturing unit to cater to the domestic market.

Reliance Communications, the country's second largest mobile service provider, and Coolpad are currently in the process of a pan-India roll out of the latter's new product, the D530, a fully loaded Android Éclair CDMA phone.

The product, which was launched in Hyderabad on Tuesday after Kolkata and Chennai earlier, is being retailed through Reliance Worlds and Reliance Mobile stores.

“We currently have three models in the Indian CDMA market. We plan to launch the 15 new models in the next 12 months, with a price range of Rs 2,500-20,000. Most of the new models will have Android operating systems,” Mr Sami Al-Lawati, Managing Director of Coolpad Communications, told media persons at the launch.

With the Indian CDMA market currently pegged at one million units per month, Coolpad is aiming at sales of one million units annually in the next 12 months.

The D530 has a price tag of Rs 7,999. Reliance Communications has launched an exclusive scheme of 100 per cent of the handset price as money back over 24 months, Mr V. Nagaprasad, Hub Head, Andhra Pradesh, said.

R&D facility

On the proposed R&D facility, Mr Al-Lawati said the company, which spends about 8 per cent of its annual global sales on R&D, was yet to select a location for the facility. He said the company will set up the proposed manufacturing facility in the next three to four years, when its sales were expected to reach a certain scale.

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