Khushtech Korea will be investing $100 million in Andhra Pradesh for D2M or Direct-to-Mobile phone factory in collaboration with Tejas Networks. The innovative phones will offer TV, OTT videos, audio broadcasts and text-based information without internet or Wi-Fi connection.
Yes, you read that right. Instead, they will be using India’s terrestrial TV broadcast airwaves to provide internet to consumers. The Khushtech D2M phone will have a special chip which will be used in 470-608 MHz broadcast bands.
Meanwhile, BIS certification is expected by July end and approval from government of India for D2M is also awaited. The company is in talks with AP IT Minister Nara Lokesh.
Initially, it will invest $20 million and $80 million in the next five years, adding up to $100 million. The company chief Eric Shin said setting up the factory in Andhra Pradesh will get it the label of ‘Made in India’.
Minister Lokesh sees D2M phones as a means to do away with digital divide in rural and remote areas. Khushtech CEO Shin further said that they intend to start Korean hi-tech SMEs cluster in Andhra Pradesh.
The D2M phones currently support 4G. But one can make UPI payments to smart phones. Khushtech is targeting the feature phone market that has 300 million feature phones in India. They intend to replace 50% of them with D2M phones.
The product will be available through e-commerce sites and retail distribution in Tier 2 and Tier 3 cities.
Khushtech is world’s first D2M feature phone company developed in collaboration with Saankhya Lab & Tejas Network. Incidentally, the CEO is a fan of all things Indian and wants to bring khushi or happiness to people of India.
