Dual-sim phone demand on the rise

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Dual-sim phone demand on the rise
Kolkata: The dual-sim mobile phone segment is emerging as the fastest growing category in the Indian mobile phone market. As a result of high teledensity in urban markets and competitive tariffs, dual-sim phones are growing upwards of 100 percent, reports Economic Times. According to the latest ORG-GfK data, from a marginal three percent share of the overall market last year, dual-sim phones now account for nearly 15 percent of the market. While the dual-sim market was till recently dominated by the Chinese vendors and imports, leading brands like Samsung, Nokia, Spice and LG are now planning to make rapid inroads. "The dual-sim phone is currently the fastest growing segment and the market is growing at nearly 100 percent. This is a focus area for us and we will be launching a new portfolio in the first half of this year. We expect dual-sim phones will contribute more than 12 percent to our sales by end-2010," said Samsung India Director (mobile and IT) Ranjit Yadav. According to Economic Times, currently Samsung has three dual-sim phone models and plans to soon roll out such handsets with touch-screen capabilities. The company's dual-sim handsets boast of capabilities whereby both the sims can be active simultaneously. Nokia is also planning to roll out dual-sim phones in India this year. "Even though dual-sim phones are a niche segment, there is an emerging need in the Indian market," said a Nokia India spokesperson. Indian Cellular Association (ICA) President Pankaj Mohindroo feels that dual-sim handsets will boom big time till number portability comes into play across all the telecom circles. "It is also becoming a mainline feature. In fact, currently only some 1/3rd of dual-sim handset owners actually use the handset to its full functionality," said Mohindroo.