Smartphones: The time of the explosion of low cost terminals

To be accessible to consumers in developing countries, the price of smartphonesto drop below $ 100 - and this can happen with massive orders for cheaperhandsets by mobile operators.

Directed by the hundreds (they are nearly 800) of telcos members of the GSM Association, the message of the President of Airtel, India's largest operator, SunilBharti Mittal, was given the second day of Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, which takes place this week.

"Today we have phones ranging from U.S. $ 18 and $ 20 [~ U.S. $ 35]. Finally we got ultra low cost handsets, which greatly expanded the market. I hope that theGSMA do something similar in the area of ​​smartphones, "said Mittal.

He believes that operators can encourage this movement with orders of 100 millionsmartphones to be sold for less than $ 100 (£ 170).

For Mittal, the service offering wireless access is the only practical solution formost people in countries like India and Bangladesh, or Africa. "We offer very inexpensive smartphones," he insisted. The question put forward by the president of Mitel is very close to the Brazilian reality. Today, for example, the 3G cellular - mostly smarpthones-account for less than 20% of active terminals of the base.