India goes for $20 phone in the first half of 2007   

Bhaskar Hazarika 

NEW DELHI: Much awaited dream of IT Minister Dayanidhi Maran to have $20
mobile phones for India is likely to realize in the first half of 2007. 

The much heard about low cost mobile phones is here, with Infineon
Technologies AG, coming up with the second generation ultra low cost single chip
for mobile phones at $16 for the complete bill of materials. 

Infineon offers semiconductor and system solutions for automotive, industrial
and multimarket sectors, for applications in communication and memory products. 

Tan Weng Kuan, vice-president and general manager (Entry Phone Business
Unit), Infineon, said that the second-generation single chip platform would
prove to be highly lucrative for the mobile handset manufactures in India.

Phones built on this single chip would have voice and message along with
polyphonic ringtones facility. However, according to Kuan, a manufacturer can
also add various other features like the camera, radio, MP3 and loudspeaker
facility, for which they will have to add chips for each application.