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Qualcomm said last month that it was talking to various OEMs about expanding its business in low cost handsets for India, and now it seems that Chinese players Huawei and ZTE may have been at the heart of the discussions. Both vendors currently sell handsets in the subcontinent on a white label basis, under the operators' brands, but now plan to unleash products in their own right, through carriers and retail channels, and to mount an assault on Nokia's mighty market share.

Huawei and ZTE will offer CDMA and GSM handsets and the former says it aims to sell 80% of its devices under its own brand during 2009. Bundling phones with carrier offers "made it difficult to leverage our brand name with consumers," said a Huawei spokesperson.

ZTE, which currently offers unbranded handsets to Reliance Communications, Tata Teleservices, Vodafone, Spice Telecom and Aircel, expects Indian revenues to be greater than those in its home country of China within two years. Chairman of ZTE Telecom India, DK Ghosh, commented: "We plan to enter the retail market by the end of this year, after we launch in China and the US." ZTE currently gets about 10% of its cellphone revenues from India.

Qualcomm is reported to have been a guiding hand behind the move to separate handsets from carriers, especially on the CDMA front. Qualcomm, like many of its customers, is looking for increased business from emerging markets, particularly India, to offset weakness in developed territories. It said last month: "We are working with our OEMs to bring to market smartphones at an affordable range of below INR10,000 ($225)". Indian smartphones currently retail at over at INR15,000 ($339), a price tag that has discouraged mass market adoption, especially since there are no 3G networks yet. The iPhone 3G costs from $700. Other current Qualcomm OEMs with an interest in India include LG, Samsung and HTC.

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