Shipments of 3G-enabled mobile handsets in India touched 4.7 million units during January-March 2012.
While this was a decline of 7.8 percent over the 4Q 2011 (October-December 2011), it was a growth of 34.3 percent over 1Q 2011 (January-March 2011).
"With the recently announced reduction in tariffs of 3G services by as much as 70 percent by leading India telecom service providers, the market for both 3G-enabled devices and mobile broadband-driven content is likely to see an upward trend in adoption in the forthcoming quarters," said Tarun Pathak, Analyst, CMR Telecoms Practice.
The overall India mobile handsets market registered sales of 50.2 million units during January-March 2012.
In the overall India mobile handsets market, Nokia retained leadership position with 23 percent share, followed by Samsung at second position with 14.1 percent and Micromax at third position with 5.8 percent, in terms of sales (unit shipments) during January-March 2012.
India Monthly Mobile Handset Shipments (millions of units), January-March 2012
Total India smartphone sales touched 2.7 million units during January-March 2012.
Samsung emerged as the leader in the smartphone segment with a 40.4 percent share, followed at No. 2 and No. 3 by Nokia with 25.5 percent and RIM with 12.3 percent share respectively.
India MobileHandsets Market: Shares of leading Vendors in Smartphones
In Q1 2012, Samsung launched seven new smartphone models in India, further tightening its grip on sales in different price bands between INR 7,500 to INR 27,000. This is the range in which the company sells its portfolio of smartphones currently. It excludes products like the Samsung Galaxy Note, which, with a 5" screen is categorized under the category of media tablets / tablet PCs. Indian mobile handset vendors have also started aggressively widening their Android-based smartphones portfolio.