E-tel in top 3 in Sri Lanka’s smartphone market

Monday, 31 March 2014 00:00 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}

Increases market share to 16.1% in 4Q of 2013

E-tel has emerged one of the top three brands in Sri Lanka’s smartphone market in the fourth quarter of 2013, importer Brantel said this week, quoting the latest report of market intelligence and advisory firm CyberMedia Research (CMR). The CMR report released Thursday 27 March 2014 said, “Smartphone sales (shipments) touched 0.12 million units in Sri Lanka during 4Q 2013

and 0.45 million for CY 2013. During 4Q 2013 Samsung emerged as the leader in the smartphones segment with a 21.2% share followed by Huawei with 19.6% and E-tel at third place with a 16.1% shipments share.” “Our increased emphasis on the smartphone segment with high-speed, fully-loaded handsets has clearly achieved the desired results,” Brantel CEO Bishri Latiff said. “We are delighted at the success of our strategy of offering best-in-class smartphone features, speed and capacity, at unmatched prices and comprehensive after sales service.” Named after the Curiosity rover sent to Mars, the E-tel smartphone range sold in Sri Lanka comprises of the Curiosity i4, i6 and i8 series and the latest quad-core Curiosity N3 released in early March 2014. The phones are designed in Hong Kong and manufactured in three top 10-ranked manufacturing facilities in China that produce branded smartphones for the European and US markets, guaranteeing the same high level of quality, consistency and performance Latiff said. One of the key strengths of the E-tel brand has been its ability to offer the latest in technology without the price tag associated with building global brand equity. A CMR press release on ‘Sri Lanka Mobile Handsets Market Review, 4Q 2013, March 2014’ (http://cmrindia.mailerlite.com/c4i0o4/83728102/l5w7/2195209955) quoted Faisal Kawoosa, Lead Analyst, CMR Telecoms Practice as saying: “The Sri Lanka market shows a strong growth in shipments of smartphones as against a decline in feature phone shipments. This is in keeping with the larger global trend and points to a maturing of consumer tastes and growing preference for a richer mobile usage experience. This is a positive sign for the long term health of the Sri Lanka telecom services market and is bound to lead to larger numbers of subscribers accessing the mobile internet and data services.” E-tel phones are available in nearly 2000 dealer outlets in Sri Lanka and a Brantel-owned after sales service network of seven service centres in Colombo, Anuradhapura, Kandy, Matara, Negombo, Kurunegala and Ratnapura. Brantel has been in operation in Sri Lanka since 2004 and launched the E-tel brand in 2008. The E-tel brand has feature phones, touch phones and smart phones.