Mobile Operators to Make $10 Billion from Private Branded Handsets

Apparently, mobile operators earn quite a lot of money from re-branded mobile phones that are shipped to them by renowned manufacturers.

According to an ABI Research study, approximately $10.7 billion will be made through the sales of private branded handsets during this year, which means 23 percent more such handsets were sold comparing to the previous year.

Aside from providing the latest phones from Nokia, Motorola and others, mobile operators are also quite interested in forging partnerships with local manufacturers that are much more willing to accept operators' customisation and branding needs. That's how come HTC's Athena has gone Ameo on T-Mobile for example, although it brings exactly the same features and design.

Another example would be Vodafone's agreement with Huawei for supplying 3G handsets for its operations in 20 global markets. During the next five years, over 80 percent of mobile subscribers will be from emerging markets.

Since regions like Asia have become quite important for demand, supply and competition in the handset industry, local manufacturers have significant cost advantages over suppliers from other regions.

According to ABI Research industry analyst Shailendra Pandey, "In the past, private branded handsets have mostly been high-end feature phones and smartphones supplied to operators by the likes of HTC, Sharp, and Quanta. Now, however, the growing demand for low-cost and ultra-low-cost handsets means that operators also have opportunities to provide private branded handsets in this segment. They can partner with selected local manufacturers who will be able to address the low-cost market by avoiding import costs and benefiting from the skill sets and cheap labor of indigenous work forces."