The Silicon Review ^Asia

Indian smartphone manufacturers such as Lava and Micromax have started to benefit from the on-going tussle between America and China, people familiar with the matter said.

According to sources familiar with the matter, American telcocompanies such as T-Mobile, AT&T and Sprint have made smartphone orders worth about Rs 2,500crore with the Indian companies. The 4G smartphones would cost below $200.

The phones which cost below the $200 mark covers 25 percent of the global $460 billion smartphone market.

Earlier, these American telcos have been dependent on China for the handsets but now they will use devices made by Indian manufactures for the first time. The deal is good news for both the Indian phone makers as there will be some relief in terms of revenue is concerned. Since the past four years, the manufacturing plants of Micromax and Lava has been underutilised.

People familiar with the matter said ET that “Lava is believed to have bagged book size of about Rs 2,000 crore and Micromax of about Rs 500 crore”.

The person also stated that before confirming the order, an official from AT&T came to the plant and inspected it. Another person familiar with the matter said that AT&T will brand the phones, as per the contract.

The move could boost operations in the two Indian phone makers, and leave a positive impact on other phone manufactures in the country.