Kolkata, Nov 26 (IANS) The number of high-end mobile phone users will grow five times in the next three years, an official at the Indian Cellular Association (ICA) said here Thursday.
“The demand for feature-rich handsets selling at a price range of Rs.5,000 to Rs.12,000 will continue to grow,” ICA national president Pankaj Mohindroo told reporters.

As a result, handset prices are unlikely to go down further, he said.

“At present, the average price of a handset is Rs.2,500 and it’s not going to go down any further.”

ICA has projected that the size of the handset market in India will increase to 150 million in 2010-11 from 130 million last fiscal, while that of the data service-enabled phones would touch 25 million in three years from five million in 2008-09.

The handset industry is expected to grow by 15 percent this fiscal.

“This indicates that service providers would earn more revenue from providing data-services in the next two-three years than what they have been earning all these years,” Mohindroo said.

He added that the industry chamber had appealed to the government to bring in a directive banning the use of fake mobile handsets.

Recently, the government had made it mandatory for all service providers to disconnect services to mobile phones that do not have International Mobile Equipment Identity (IMEI) numbers - unique 15-digit security code - or zero IMEI.