By IANS
Chennai : Iconet Communication Pvt Ltd, Chennai-based mobile phone sales and services company, is negotiating with three foreign companies to partner its chain of retail and servicing outlets.
The three companies – two based in the UK and one in Austria – operate mobile handset sales and servicing chains.
“We will finalise the partner and other details by the end of this year,” Iconet director A K Midha told IANS.
Predicting difficult days for stores into just one line of business of either sales or servicing, he said that intense competition has brought down the margin on handset sales to a mere 2 per cent.
According to him, there is money in servicing handsets. But when big retail chains come in with authorised service centre tags, the standalone servicing outlets will start feeling the heat in the form of attrition and inability to invest in technology.
“Repairing a handset in the shortest possible time will be the crucial success factor for servicing centres,” Midha said.
The Rs.220 million Iconet offers both sales and service under the brand Iconet Cellular. The company’s six Iconet Cellular outlets in Chennai are authorised service centres for big brands like Nokia, LG, Samsung, Sony Ericsson and Motorola.
According to Midha, the company is looking for a partner who has efficient technician training methods and technology for servicing the equipments fast.
Iconet will expand its footprint after it finalises the joint venture. After the expansion, the company would buy bulk talk time from cellular companies and sell co-branded prepaid recharge cards.
In India, the prepaid market commands a market share of 82 per cent. Even a 5 per cent share will be a sizeable opportunity for a retail chain, Midha said.