Daily News & Analysis
MUMBAI, Aug 3: Cell phone users needn’t be torn between CDMA or GSM technologies before taking a mobile connection, anymore. Now, one can have both on the same phone.
Spice Mobile and Samsung have launched handsets that allow the user to load two SIM cards instead of one.
The Spice Dual comes with two variants — D-88, which supports both GSM and CDMA active connections at the same time, and D-80, which supports two active GSM connections — both priced at Rs 9,849. Switching from one connection to the other is as easy as just pressing a button and the phone provides four basic operation modes — GSM and CDMA dual; CDMA and GSM dual; CDMA only and GSM only.
On the other hand, Samsung’s first touchscreen-based dual SIM phone — Samsung Duo - would cost Rs 11,999, Hyunbai Kim, head, CDMA division, Samsung Telecommunications India informed.
Meanwhile, Reliance Communication has already tied up with suppliers and will also launch these dual SIM handsets before the festival season Dual SIM phones are already in use in China and Korea.
Kunal Ahooja, CEO, Spice Mobile Ltd told DNA Money, “As one handset per person was not enough, increasingly many are toting around two phones — one for work and one for private use. Our dual phones help get rid of the problem.”
What’s more, users get a call waiting tone if another call comes on the other SIM and can either swap or reject the other call. Thus, both the SIMs can remain active at same time.
Industry experts believe these dual SIM handsets would particularly help people who travel extensively and want to minimise their roaming costs. Even international travellers can now use a single instrument and a single charger, retaining the home network number as well as the visiting country SIM. Effectively, this helps avoid the inconvenience of carrying two phones without sacrificing the advantage of choosing the best tariffs while traveling, especially when overseas.
According to an estimate, dual SIM handsets can capture almost 10% of the present mobile market, putting the size of the dual SIM handsets market at 5 million annually.