Onida to service Benq mobile phones

Benq India Pvt Ltd has just signed an agreement with Onida to ser-vice its
entire range of mobile products in India. Presently Benq has Accel ICIM and
Ultima as service providers for its IT products while the former also services
its mobile range. Onida will be presently only servicing its mobiles.

"To start with, Onida would be looking at Level 1 and 2 type of repairs
which mostly comprise of problems with the battery, software etc. Onida has
immense penetration in the country with more than 150 service centers for its
own products. Presently these cen-ters are for Onida’s consumer electronics
product range, therefore, talks are still on fina-lizing the servicing
procedures for IT products," disclosed Ashish Bakshi, Country Head, Benq
India.

This latest move is part of Benq process of strengthening its service network
across India. "Benq is aggressive about the Indian market, therefore,
getting our infrastructure set in India was our first priority. Initially our
service centers were present only across 17 cities but now we are present in 50
to 60 cities. There were 21 service centers initially but now there are 175
service centers across all the product lines. It was also essential for Benq to
venture into the growing metros which are the B.C and D class cities,"
pointed out Bakshi.

In fact, Benq recently has consolidated its service offering nationwide by
starting a franchise model service centers at Lamington Road in Mumbai and Nehur
Place in New Delhi. Benq also plans to cover Chennai, Bangalore, Kolkata by
April 2004 and also some other important cities like Hyderabad, Ahmedabad,
Lucknow and Pune by June 2004.

the company has also launched a national toll free helping number to address
end-customber queries. An intranet that will be fully operational by March 2004
will provide Benq dealers easy and immediate access to inventory control, spares
management, warranty authorization and online RMA (repair Material
Authorization). Over and above an online presence, Benq has planned four
inventory/spares hubs located at Mumbia, Delhi, Bangalore and Chennai that is
slated to strategically look after dealers" requirements nationwide.

On increasing its brand presence, Benq has already started taking retail
initiatives. "we have retail concepts called Benq corner and Benq spot
which will be soon visible at a few large retail outlets. And this year our
focus will be to make our brand presence felt through such initiatives. Last
year we wanted to concentrate our energies on setting up the in-frastructure and
the distribution channel in place but the year 2004 would be to make Benq a
household name," added Bakshi.

Nancy Sudheer

Mumbai