News: 'Made in India' mobile soon

(BL 26/01/2007) Bangalore - Finally! A mobile that's made in India. Bangalore-based Digibee Microsystems (Digibee) is all set to take this pioneering step in the next few weeks. Announcing the investment of $8.5 million (about Rs 38 crore) by Clearstone Venture Partners and SIDBI in the firm, Vijay Balakrishnan, Vice-President of Marketing, Digibee, said the amount would be used to fund the company's first phase of operations. It will tie up with the top five mobile operators in the country, who have between them around 115 million subscribers, and begin the process of rolling out handsets. The investment will be utilised to obtain licences, IPRs (intellectual property rights) and in strategic deals with the component manufacturing vendors. "The `handset' arena was one area which has not seen much of an Indian presence. We are certain that with Digibee's entry this is going to change and we will see more Indian handset products and solutions in the global market," said Ajay Kapur, CEO of SVCL (SIDBI Venture Capital Ltd). Digibee plans to offer feature-rich handsets to the Indian market, but is ready with low-end phones, too. Details of the price range are not given. The company has developed its own reference design (Mobile Platform Solutions which includea system on a chip and handset software framework) for both 2G and 3G. Customisation From basic mono GSM and CDMA phones to advanced 3G handsets, the company's products will be localised and specifically customised for regional requirements. The various customisations include content modification, user interface customisation, language localisation & several embedded applications for multiple regions and market segments.