Calcutta, May 24: The Sagem Group of France, with a $3-million turnover, has entered the GSM mobile handset market in India. It has launched eight models.

Cenzer Industries has been appointed national distributor for Sagem phones in the country.

“We are launching eight models now and plan to add seven more by the year-end,” said Avinash Pathak, general manager, marketing and sales. “We have set a target of 50,000 units per month.”

With an average pricing of Rs 4,000, the company expects to generate sales worth Rs 240 crore over the next 12 months.

“With more than 1.5 million subscribers being added every month, the handset industry is seeing a 150 per cent annual growth. The market is maturing and there is scope for many players,” Pathak said.

The prices range between Rs 3,299 for an entry-level phone and Rs 15,299 for a videophone.

Sagem plans to cater to all categories of phone users and will introduce new models to woo customers.

The phones have built-in digital camera, colour screens, video capabilities, multimedia messaging, WAP, GPRS, Java, radio communication modules and in-built modems. The company has sold 3 million phones in the first quarter of 2004.

Sagem has already entered into an alliance with AirTel in Andhra Pradesh and is into talks with operators in Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and Maharashtra.

In Calcutta, it is talking to both AirTel and Hutch and expects to finalise an arrangement in the next few weeks.