EE TIMES

Friday, June 21, 2005

India's Quasar to launch GSM handset

BANGALORE, India — A high-end GSM mobile handset designed by Quasar Innovations Pvt. Ltd., an India-based startup, is due to be launched in Europe within the next two months by long distance carrier Primus Telecommunications Group (McLean, Va.).

The handset is the first to be designed in India by an Indian company, according to Ramakrishna Dutt, founder and managing director of Quasar. The company, a virtual original design manufacturer (VODM), has used an unnamed electronic manufacturing services firm to build prototype phones locally. It did not reveal where mass production would occur.

"Cost-effective design, quicker time-to-market and lower bill of materials are the advantages of being a VODM like us in India," Dutt said.

Quasar employs 250 and offers turn-key contract manufacturing services to the mobile handset and terminal device market. Besides Primus, other customers include Nokia, Motorola, Lucent, Hutchison, Nortel, Ericsson, and India wireless service providers Idea Cellular and Bharti Cellular.

The company now designs only GSM phones but is considering designing CDMA handsets too.

Initial versions of the feature-rich phone will not incorporate a camera, but the company said subsequent models would.

Besides Primus, Quasar expects to close deals with several other companies this year. The company is also designing a low-end phone and a high-end model similar to a personal digital assistant (PDA).