Videocon eyes for Motorola handset business

India’s largest consumer electronics and appliances manufacturer, Videocon has surprised the business world by expressing its willingness to acquire the handset business of US based Motorola. Videocon Industries chairman Venugopal Dhoot confirmed that his company had already submitted an expression of Interest to manfacturing giant. However details about the bidding value is not publicly available.

Motorola, the third largest mobile manufacturer next to Nokia and Samsung tumbled over the past year with the fall of its market share and share price. Worldwide market share dropped from 22% to 12% and Market share in India slipped to 6.5% from 14%. Last week Motorola expressed its plan to demerge the handset business following the pressure from one of its major investor, Carl Icahn.

On the other hand, Videocon’s telecom subsidiary Datacom has already received licences to offer mobile services all across India and is awaiting allotment of spectrum to launch commercial operations. They are expecting 25 million customers in the next three years and if the acquisition ends in a positive way to their side, Mobile service provider business and Handset business will help each other to grow.

If the deal happens, it will be a big milestone for Videocon and Indian business. Let us hope for the best.