September 2, 2005

Second hand phones drive mobile boom

imag7.jpg According to rediff.com, second hand phones are driving the Indian market.

"It is essentially the low cost of cell phones - whether new or second hand - which is responsible for the boom.

"There is a large section of people - the lower income groups, who do not mind using a second hand phone. This is generating the business at the retail level on its own," a Reliance Infocomm official says adding, it is difficult to quantify the second-hand cellphone market as it is scattered and in the unorganised segment.

On the factors behind easy availability of second-hand phones, Madan who runs the business in Central Delhi says "the Indian mobile phone user refuses to junk an old instrument but passes it on to a new low-end user, helping the second-hand market to thrive."

"Every second day a new model hits the market. People now have the experience of using coloured handsets, camera phones and now there are even data enabled phones coming in the market."

Earlier a user changed the mobile every two years or so, now this time period has come down to 12 months or even less," says Ashwani Kumar, a cellphone retailer."

Picture from Aaaj Ki Taja Khabar

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