Hyundai Mobile announced it would begin handset sales in India, becoming the latest vendor to tap into the vast yet relatively unpenetrated market. At the early stage, the subsidiary of Hyundai Corp. plans to introduce multiple models directly from Korea, and in the next three to four years possibly establish production facilities in India. Once local production gets under way, the Korean vendor will also look to make India an export center, taking advantage of the country's low production cost.

 

The company expects to ship 10 million handsets to India over the next five years.

 

Prices of Hyundai Mobile's offerings will range from 3,590 Rupees (US$78.9; US$1=45.5 Rupees) to 100,000 Rupees (US$2,197.1).

 

Other major vendors that already entered the India market include Nokia, Motorola, LG, Samsung Electronics, and Philips. Earlier, LG also announced its plan of setting up a plant to produce mobile phones in India in 2005.