Huawei to launch LTE smartphone and tablet by December

Huawei, which aims to be the third biggest handset brand in India, is planning to launch LTE smartphones and tablets.

Huawei, which aims to be the third biggest handset brand in India, is planning to launch LTE smartphones and tablets in India by December this year. It plans to Ascend D LTE and Ascend P1 LTE smartphone and Huawei Mediapad 10 LTE in India.

Talking exclusively to The Mobile Indian, P Sanjeev, director sales, Huawei India, said, "We plan to launch smartphones and tablets with LTE network support by December. However, the plan will depend on the 4G operators plans including the network rollout and willingness to offer smartphones and tablets using that network".

He added, "Huawei already has LTE products with Ascend P1 LTE and Ascend D LTE in smartphone category and Mediapad 10 LTE in tablet category, these will have a version with support of TD LTE which is the network that is being rolled out in India".

India currently has TD LTE network in Kolkata and Bangalore only, offered by Airtel. Airtel is expected to roll out networks in Pune and Chandigarh shortly followed by Delhi and Mumbai (through Qualcomm's spectrum) expected by end of this year.

Aircel which has spectrum in eight circles also plans to launch its 4G services by December, starting from Chennai. Aircel has 4G spectrum in Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu (including Chennai), West Bengal, Bihar, Odisha, Assam, North-East, Jammu & Kashmir.

Huawei is the leading provider for LTE dongles to Airtel and is expected to be the choice supplier of Aircel, Tikona and RIL as well.

While Asced D LTE and MediaPad 10 Lte will be based on quad core processor from Huawei itself, Ascend P1 LTE will be cheaper with a dual core processor. Pricing has not been announced for these devices as it will depend on the Operators.

Huawei has aggressive plans for India and intends to launch some very exciting from in next four to five months including the entire Ascend series, of which two devices were launched yesterday and the rest will be launched by Diwali.