Boom time for cheap mobile sellers

- Low-priced and cheap quality brands mushroom amid technological revolution and offers
- Cheap brands have been witnessing huge sales due to lucrative offers

Nellore: Today having a mobile is not a criterion, but having newer versions, or changing them frequently, trying to be on par with technology seems to be order of the day, says a mobile shop owner One finds relatively increasing number of students, who are frequently changing their mobiles in the city colleges today, he added. Some students say it is to update their gadgets with upcoming technology, while others seem it boring to handle the same old phone for a long time when there is an option for one to exchange them with newer ones.

Similarly, new technology and competition among telecom providers at national-level has become a boon for local traders who sell mobile phones. The cheap brands people never observed in market have been witnessing huge sales due to lucrative offers and free and unlimited talk time/voice facility.

“Cheap and low quality products mushrooming the stores in the city as there were no barriers on their sales. Besides, traders are selling at actual cost. Consumers are also not considering brands and their quality,” said Munish, a mobile phone technician at Gandhi Statue centre.

He said local mobile dealers were making money selling unpopular brands with facilities like VoLTE/LTE that enable voice calling and data use under fourth generation of mobile phone technology (4G). While 3G sales would become outdated with technology revolution as they would be useful for only voice calls with limited access to apps and infotainment, he added.

Interestingly, traders were selling imported and assembled phones at an affordable cost since popular companies in the country are selling their brands at higher cost. They say these brands were of high quality at low price and put them for sale. Even, top listed chain stores are also selling low quality sets at higher cost.

A bank manager, who purchased a 4G phone for Rs 6,000 a couple of months ago, observed cracks on phone and paint was also faded.

“In India, we don’t have quality control. If we fail to get a mobile in the market we can buy the same online without any difficulty even at lower prices. In fact, any set cannot be used after six months or one year since youngsters use them for over 18 hours in a day,” said SVM Rao, senior manager of a nationalised bank.

Interestingly, the phone technician explained that some of the brands were not having even service facility in the city and the companies mention someone in the city as their service partners. These companies have been providing service without proper knowledge on the phone set.

PV Prasad