Mobiles under $30 next year

The GSM Association is calling for industry types to lend a helping hand as it tries to take the mobile revolution to all parts of the developing world - by offering very low price handsets.

The association, which claims to cover 90 per cent of the world's existing mobile users, wants to spread the handset love and has issued an 'invitation to strategic partnership' to phone makers to create an ultra-low cost mobile.

Craig Ehrlich, chairman of the GSM Association, said the right pricing of the handset could add 100 million to the number of mobile users per year.

The GSMA is aiming to knock the price of the handset to below $30, with the bargain basement phones set to debut in the first quarter of 2006. The GSMA will announce its partner-to-be at the 3GSM mobile trade show in Singapore this September.

The GSMA and partner are aiming to shift six million of the super-cheap handsets within the first six months of release.

The call for the ultra-low cost handset partner is the second phase in the GSM Association's plan to get the unconnected using mobiles. Earlier this year, the first phase of the initiative saw Motorola become the association's partner in the creation of a sub-$40 phone.

Nokia is also gunning for the low-low-end, announcing a handset last week for €65 aimed at the African market.