Low-cost phones, emerging markets to drive handsets sector

LONDON — With developed markets saturated and shifting mostly high-end handsets, and mid–tier phone providers continuing to struggle, market tracker Juniper Research suggests low-cost devices sold to the emerging markets will be the only ray of hope in the short term.

Juniper (Basingstoke, England) is forecasting that, for the next five years to 2014, annual sales of low cost mobile handsets will rise by 22 per cent to over 700 million.

The research house note that efforts by industry players to lower the TCO (total cost of ownership) for devices and services to the sub $5 mark are already reaping the benefits in markets such as Bangladesh, Pakistan and India.