With cellular subscriber base growing, the handset manufacturers are focusing on introducing latest and cheapest phones. The latest to join the bandwagon is the Chinese manufacturer, Bird International.

India's mobile phone market has grown very rapidly in the last few years and has the potential to grow further. A large number of global mobile handset manufacturers have entered the Indian market in recent years to cash in on the boom, which represents one of the fastest growing cellular phone market in the world.

Bird International Ltd. (BIL), the largest mobile handset maker of China, listed on the Shanghai Stock Exchange having a market share of 15% in China with an annual revenue of $845 mn has also ventured into the Indian cellular market. Apart from India, the other markets where Bird has ventured include Hong Kong, Singapore, Thailand, Indonesia, and other South-East Asian markets. The handset company is mainly into GSM phone manufacturing with an annual capacity of 18 million units, but it also has the capacity to market some 7 million Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA) phones. The company sold over 7 million units last year and has four Research and Development (R&D) centers in China. The entry is likely to trigger a price war in the Indian handset market, especially in the entry level segment that sells handsets at around Rs. 3,000 a piece. The company has set itself a target to capture 6% market share within two years. The new company will be floated through its Hong Kong-based export business arm.

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