Bangalore: Claiming to be the first company to manufacture GSM mobile handsets, BPL launched seven models of handsets priced between Rs 3,900 and Rs 11,600 at Bangalore on 8 February.
 
 
Of the seven, two will be manufactured in-house while five will be outsourced from Korea. The handsets designed with a host of innovative features have major contributions in hardware and software from BPL's Research and Development Center at Bangalore which employs around 200 engineers.
 
 
Revenue contributions of Rs 450 to Rs 500 million are expected from the sale of handsets of the total revenues of Rs 2000 million. The company expects to sell 500,000 handsets by the end of the year through its distributors and retail dealerships. On the anvil are 20-25 new models of handsets.
 
 
Following BPL's launch combined with the announcement on the same day from home appliances brand Haier about its foray into the Indian mobile handsets markets with seven GSM models a wider selection is now available for the mobile users in India.