(20 March 2008 4:00 pm)

NEW DELHI: Reliance Communications (RCom) and HTC Corporation, a leading provider of Microsoft Windows Mobile-based smart devices, today announced a strategic alliance to promote next-generation CDMA devices in India.

Taking the first step forward under the alliance, HTC and RCom announced the launch of two smart devices - the HTC P3000 and HTC S720.

The handsets would be available at a market-operating price of Rs 16,500 and Rs 19,500 respectively.

The HTC P3000 and the HTC S720 will be available at all Reliance World & Reliance Communications outlets and leading HTC authorised resellers across the country from next week onwards.

The announcement marks HTC's foray into the fast-growing CDMA market in India, and reiterates the strategic focus of RCom to offer a wider range of world-class PDA devices on the CDMA platform for its high-end data usage customers.

"A future-proof, top-of-the-line integrated telecom network enabling a diverse suite of feature-rich voice, data and video applications, for millions of Indian consumers, was the key idea behind inception of Reliance Communications," says RCom president SP Shukla.

"The alliance with HTC is in line with our strategic intent to provide high-end devices empowering Reliance customers to access email, internet and data applications on the move. HTC's technological edge and Reliance's in depth consumer insights would enable us to continuously offer top-of-the-line handsets catering to emerging market trends in the Indian telecom landscape," he adds.

Under the alliance, HTC's CDMA handsets will be exclusively provided on RCom's wireless network spread across 15,000 towns and 4 lakh Indian villages.

"Merging HTC's innovative devices with Reliance's network will enable customers to experience cutting-edge mobile Internet connectivity on the go," he stresses.

Microsoft India director of communication and media segment Amajit Gupta commented, "HTC has the largest portfolio of Window's Mobile-enabled smartphones in India and we are excited about the two new additions to the family - the HTC P3000 and HTC S720."

"We are confident that with the added lineup of business applications, the inherent power delivered by Windows Mobile, and the value proposition of the Reliance CDMA network, the devices will bring further maturity into the rapidly-growing smartphone market in India," he says.