New Delhi, 20 February, 2006:  Samsung Telecommunication, one of the fastest growing handset companies with global leadership in design and technology, has finally started production of its GSM handsets at its Manesar plant in Gurgaon, Haryana.

This historic moment was created with the production of SGH X-200. A flip open phone weighing 77 gm, X-200 is loaded with Tri Band facility, IrDA Connectivity, SMS/ EMS / MMS, JAVA (MIDP 2.0) / WAP 1.2.1, 40 Polyphonic sound and 65k Colour LCD Screen. The phone also has a loudspeaker, a sound recorder which records messages for 30 seconds duration and large memory space to store 1000 entries.
 

Flagging off this unit, Mr. H. C. Ryu, Managing Director - Samsung Telecommunication India said, “Indian GSM phone market is growing at over 60 per cent every year and Samsung is strategically planning to hold be one of the leading player in this sector. Our new manufacturing unit at Manesar is a major step in this direction which will not only provide us the price advantage to produce locally but will also reduce time to market our new models.”  Set up with an investment of US$ 15 million, this fully automated and highly sophisticated manufacturing unit will manufacture 1 million handsets per annum, which will be stepped up to produce 20 million units per annum by 2010.  The plans are also in pipeline to manufacture whole array of Samsung GSM handsets at Manesar. All these products will be customized with the help of Samsung India Software Operations unit (SISO), Samsung’s R&D Centre located at Bangalore. Being Samsung’s third overseas handset manufacturing facility in the world after China and Brazil, this unit will cater local markets need and act as manufacturing hub for South West Asia.

 
Outlining Samsung’s future plans, Mr. Ryu said, “We are highly bullish on Indian market. With production going on stream, we are now going to expand our product portfolio, work heavily on product localization, invest more in marketing campaigns and expand our distribution network. This is our effort to come closer to the Indian consumers where we will continue to provide them with technological and design innovations in Mobile Phones.”

Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd. is a global leader in semiconductor, telecommunication, digital media and digital convergence technologies with 2004 parent company sales of US$55.2 billion and net income of US$10.3 billion. Employing approximately 113,600 people in over 90 offices in 48 countries, the company consists of five main business units: Digital Appliance Business, Digital Media Business, LCD Business, Semiconductor Business and Telecommunication Network Business. Recognized as one of the fastest growing brands, Samsung Electronics is a leading producer of digital TVs, memory chips, mobile phones, and TFT-LCDs.