Sunil Dutt in Calcutta on Wednesday. A Telegraph picture

Calcutta, May 14: Samsung Telecom aims to overtake Sony Ericsson and become the second largest handset player in the country within the next quarter.

According to the latest ORG figures, Samsung had a market share of 7 per cent in March 2008 compared with 5.7 per cent in January this year, while Sony Ericsson’s share was at 8.1 per cent in March. For the first time in five years, Nokia’s share dropped below 70 per cent to 69.5 per cent between January and March.

“We have gained substantially and hope to continue to do so with our new range of models and become the second largest player in the market by the end of next quarter. We have a manufacturing capacity of seven million units, which can be ramped up. We can also leverage the group’s existing facility in Chennai if required,” said Sunil Dutt, country head of Samsung Telecom.

Around 35- 40 per cent of the products are exported but as the capacity is ramped up, the company expects domestic sales to surpass export.

The company plans to address the entry segment with its latest model — the Guru100 range. It also plans to start manufacturing the Guru100 at the Noida plant.

The handset major is also set to launch its i780 model, the business-cum-lifestyle phone, which will have an optical mouse along with touchscreen, stylus and keyboard options.

“We are still working on the launches for the second half but it will have a good mix of models across segments,” said Dutt.

As a global answer to Nokia’s Lifeblog, the company will introduce the Samsung Life Diary, which allows users to create a diary store photos, videos, calls, messages, contacts and any appointments made throughout the day.