Few would have thought that a smartphone can have a price tag of just ₹251, but domestic handset maker Ringing Bells made that a reality on Wednesday by launching the world’s cheapest mobile handset, smart or otherwise.

Bookings for ‘Freedom 251’ will start at 6 am on February 18 and close on February 21 at 8 pm.

Deliveries, however, will be made only in June.

The phone supports 3G and has a 1.3 Ghz Quadcore processor, 8GB internal memory (expandable to 32GB) and 1GB of RAM. It has a 4-inch screen, 3.2MP rear and 0.3MP front camera.

No sooner had the countdown for the launch of Freedom 251 begun than red flags started being raised by a section of the industry.

The Indian Cellular Association (ICA) wrote to Ravi Shankar Prasad, Minister of Communications and IT, stating that even the Bill of Material of a product like this when sourced from the cheapest supply chain would cost at least around $40 (₹2,700)at the current exchange rate.

And the retail price, by including duties/taxes, distribution and retail margins, should be at least $60 (₹4,100) even if the phone is sold at an artificially-controlled price.

“Even if the product is sold at lower margins in an e-commerce-type sale, the final consumer price cannot come below $52-$55 (₹3,500-3,800),” said ICA National President Pankaj Mohindroo.

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Published on February 17, 2016