India joins race for UAE mobile phone market

India has become the latest country to join a hectic global race to grab a share of the UAE’s lucrative mobile phone market, pumping a host of advanced GSM products and promising to push more handsets in the near future.

Curious customers queried dealers about new handsome cellular phone brands that suddenly invaded their shelves and their curiosity turned into a surprise when they were told they are made in India.

Most of the new handsets arriving from the subcontinent looked neat and well-designed while they appear to be copying Chinese handsets in having a dual SIM card facility. Despite their host of features, they are reasonably priced and match Chinese cellular phones that have attracted many customers seeking value for their money and a handset with two simultaneous networks.

The Indian brands that have already hit the UAE market are Micromax, Onida and Intex, which are sold in retail and wholesale quantities in some shops.

“Demand for these phones is so far strong as they are good phones and reasonably priced…many customers are querying about them but we are focusing on wholesale,” said Azad Kutti, manager of the AMT shop, one of the largest wholesale mobile phone centre in Abu Dhabi.

“What distinguishes these handsets from the Chinese phones is that they are under warranty and have authorized dealers in Jebel Ali.”

Indian mobile phones have also hit the shelves of Abu Dhabi’s largest electronics shop, Costless Electronics, at the Abu Dhabi Cooperative Society.

“Mind blowing…a whole new range of mobiles from Micromax,” Costless Electronics said in a new promotion bulletin covering mobiles, landline telephones, cameras and other electronic products.

The prices of the Indian mobile phones shown in the half-page advertisement ranged between Dh199 and Dh499 and some of them have advanced features such as high resolution camera, Bluetooth, dual SIM slots, and FM radio. The Q55 model, with a unique design, is equipped with that it described as navigation keys with enlightened Swarovski elements and compact vanity mirror.

“Some people are buying these phones out of curiosity but many of them said they found out they are good handsets,” said Zia Rahman, another dealer.

The UAE is already scene of a pitched competition by major mobile phone makers vying to grab a bigger share of the fast-growing market, one of the largest mobile phone markets in the Middle East.

The market has been dominated by such giants as Nokia, Samsung, Sony Ericsson, Motorola and LG but Chinese handsets have managed to build a strong base of fans since they penetrated the UAE three years ago.

Given its high per capita income and advanced services by providers, the UAE has one of the largest mobile phone penetration rates in the world, standing at around 202 per cent at the end of the first half of 2009.

Official data showed the total number of mobile phone users in the country stood at about 10.65 million, including 9.7 million pre-paid subscribers.

Etisalat remained the dominant mobile service provider, with the number of its subscribers standing at 7.8 million at the end of June, nearly 73 per cent of the total mobile phone users in the UAE.

 “The UAE has recorded one of the world’s highest growth rates in its mobile phone market over the past 15 years mainly because of its high per capita income and relatively advanced services…another key factor is the rapid growth in many economic sectors in the past 10 years,” a UAE economist said.

The figures showed fixed phone lines stood at 1.52 million at the end of June, an average 28.4 lines for every person. Internet subscribers stood at 748,680, recording a growth of five per cent in the first half of 2010.

The UAE is already the world’s second largest market for Indian products after the United States, with its imports from the subcontinent topping Dh66 billion between April 2008 and February 2009.

Its exports to India peaked at nearly Dh62 billion during that period to emerge as the second largest exporter to that market after Saudi Arabia.

India, which has the largest foreign community in the UAE, has been locked in a marketing campaign to boost its exports to the Emirates and other lucrative markets in the oil-rich Gulf within long-term plans to stimulate its economy.

The drive has already paid off as India moved to the second place in the list of exporters to the UAE in 2009 after it was a negligible exporter 15 years ago.

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