The Hindu Business Line : Strategic tie-up with Thomson arm, Atlinks

Mr Didier Goujard, MD, Atlinks (left), and Mr Rakesh Bharti Mittal, Vice-Chairman and Managing Director, Bharti Teletech, launching General Electric-branded telephones in the Capital on Friday. - - Ramesh Sharma

New Delhi , Feb. 20

BHARTI Teletech Ltd, the manufacturing arm of the Bharti group, has entered into a strategic alliance with Atlinks, a subsidiary of Thomson, as part of which it will manufacture fixed line phones for global exports. The company will also become the sole marketing and distribution company for Atlinks in the region and will start selling GE-branded telephones.

Announcing the tie-up, Mr Rakesh Mittal, Vice Chairman and Managing Director, Bharti Teletech, noted that to begin with the company planned to export one million GE phones in the next two years. These phones would be manufactured at Bharti's plant in Ludhiana, which is already manufacturing phones for global market.

He also noted that the company would invest up to $ one million on new products in company's own brand, Beetel, during the next financial year and look at undertaking capacity expansion in 2005-06 to meet the targets. On the distribution side, Bharti has fixed a target to sell two lakh units of GE phones in India in the first year. With this alliance, Bharti is targeting a market share of over 45 per cent in the domestic market in 2004-05.

Mr Mittal noted that there would be no conflict of interest between its own brand Beetel and the GE brand of phones that it plans to sell in the domestic market as both were in different price bands. The GE range of phones comprise six models initially ranging from Rs 495 to Rs 2,595, and would be available in 20 cities of the country initially.

"In all Bharti is targeting a sale of five million fixed line telephone sets by the end of next fiscal," he said.

Mr Didier Goujard, Managing Director, Atlinks noted that India was amongst the "promising countries" for the coming decade and the local knowledge of the Indian partner - Bharti - would allow the company to introduce GE range easily.