SemIndia to roll out India's first WiMax GSM module

In a first of its kind for India, SemIndia Corp is all set to roll out WiMax GSM phone chips from its FabCity assembly, test, marking and packaging (ATMP) facility in Hyderabad, which is set for completion by June this year.

The company is already preparing to launch chip modules for GSM phones enabled with bluetooth, FM radio and GPS capabilities as also set-top boxes and broadband access devices from the unit. The WiMax GSM technology is the latest addition to its product portfolio.

SemIndia will unveil the Wimax modules at the Mobile World Congress slated to be held at Barcelona in February. The development is significant considering the government is in the midst of allocating 3G and WiMax broadband bandwidth to telecom players in the country, even as customer terminal equipment makers scramble to roll out mobile technologies to offer what is being dubbed as 4G mobile services in time.

While the first of the WiMax devices in the country are expected to be fixed, WiMax base stations and laptops, mobile GSM WiMax phones would change the game altogether putting the power of mobile Internet into peoples’ pockets at almost twice the power of WiFi without the burden of fat mobile phone bills.

SemIndia will make the chip modules for these devices for JSemtech Holdings Pte Ltd, a 76:26% JV between itself and the Singapore-based Jurong Technologies Industries Corp (JTIC), which will function as a division of the company, Bob Kondamoori, managing director, Sandalwood Partners, a $120 million VC fund that has invested into SemIndia, told DNA Money.

The $80 million ATMP unit will have 10 manufacturing lines adding up to a capacity of 30 million GSM modules per annum.

“These modules will be rolled out in high volumes so that manufacturers can buy them to build their own mass consumption cheap phones,” he said, adding that talks were on between JSemtech and at least 30 potential customers, including some mobile phone operators in India and other parts of the world.

“We are seeking to keep the pricing of the bluetooth, GPS and FM radio GSM phone modules below $10, which should translate into a sub-$20 phone. The WiMax GSM module should not cost more than $20 each, which should keep the cost of the WiMax phone at around $50,” Kondamoori explained.

This kind of pricing is ideal for operators looking for their own branded or unbranded mass market phones, ideal for use by rural and urban folk.

Significantly, SemIndia has decided not to use the ATMP for external customers as the group wants to use it only for products made and marketed by its own group companies like JSemtech, Kondamoori added.

The company is seeing demand for the GSM modules from companies that want to use them for varied applications indicating immense opportunities for it, he said.  For instance, a Mexican power company wants to install the GSM chips in electric meters so that readings can be remotely downloaded. Similar enquiries have come from Egypt and African companies.