Freedom 251 not to affect Datawind, says Tuli

New Delhi: Datawind, the maker of world's cheapest tablet PC, today questioned Ringing Bells mobile phone cost of Rs 251 and said that the scheme will neither impact the company nor market players.

"Every month about 2 crore mobile phones are sold in India. The company (Ringing Bells) claims to have 25 lakh bookings and some crore registrations. If the product is actually shipped, the 25 lakh unit will neither affect market nor prospect of our company," Datawind President and CEO Suneet Singh Tuli told reporters here.

He also alleged that the offer to sell mobile phone is just a promotion.

Datawind made the world's cheapest tablet Aakash for the Indian government. It had won the contract to supply 1 lakh units of Aakash tablets priced at USD 49.98 apiece in 2011, translated into a price of Rs 2,276 at that time. The project was then handled by IIT Jodhpur which provided the specifications for the product.

After running into controversies on the quality of product, the project was shifted under IIT Bombay and Datawind was asked to supply better version of the product, Aakash 2, at a price of Rs 2,263 apiece, which is around USD 42 at exchange rate at that time.

Tuli said it is wrong to compare Aakash with Ringing Bells scheme as Aakash was brand owned by Indian government and the product was real.

Questioning the cost of Freedom 251, Tuli said that memory chips used in mobile phones are traded internationally like other commodities and at present 1GB RAM chip costs USD 5.5 or about Rs 370.

"If you buy 10 lakh units then maximum discount one get is of 5-6 per cent. When memory chip promised in the phone (Freedom 251) costs more than the price being offered then there is no way phone can be made for Rs 251 apiece. It is just a donation," Tuli said.

He said that Datawind is planning to launch a smartphone for Rs 1,500, least priced device from its stable, next month but it would also not match the specification promised by Ringing Bells.