Meridian Mobile to increase its market share to 10%

Banking on the growing mobile handset market in India, New Delhi-based Meridian Mobile (P) Ltd is hopeful of achieving an overall market share of 10 per cent by the end of this fiscal.



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The company’s flagship brand ‘Fly’ was launched in June 2006 and sold 850,000 units in the last fiscal year and has a market share of 2.5 per cent.

Meridian Mobile is part of the UK-based Meridian Group and has established a strong position in markets including Russia, India and the UK.

The company is now expanding rapidly in India by developing a large offering under the ‘Fly’ brand. The products include feature phones, smart-phones and mobile phone Accessories and almost 80 per cent is being imported from Korea and Singapore and the rest from China.

Talking to Business Standard, Company Zonal Manager (North) Vaibhav Kapoor, who was in the city, said, “Our strategy is to focus on store branding and forging alliances with retailers. In the first phase our focus is on placement. We have reached 9,000 premium counters and hope to double it by the end of the second quarter, which will together account for 70 per cent of the over-all retail sales.”

The company is already in an engagement programme with the top mobile service operators in the country, has engaged 9,000 top retail outlets in the country, to shift their shop presence from 50 per cent to 70 per cent and to widen their hold from 90 to 150 major towns by 2009.

Also, the company plans to add new models to its existing range. Their trade partners include Pantaloons, Bigbazaar, Essar-The Mobile Store, Subiksha, Hotspot, RPG, etc.

With the expansion on cards and new launches in offing, the company is expecting a turnover of Rs 1,000 crore in the current financial year in comparison to Rs 207 crore during the corresponding period last year.

Vaibhav added, “In the last fiscal year, Fly had an overall market share of 2.5 per cent and every month we are growing by 50 per cent. So by the end of this fiscal year, we are hopeful about increasing our market share to 10 per cent.”

Elaborating on Punjab plans, Meridian Mobiles Sales Head (Punjab, Chandigarh and Himachal Pradesh) Ranjit Sidhu said, “We are aggressively increasing our market potentiality in Punjab. We have 500 dealers in Punjab and are planning to increase the network by 1,200 dealers in the next fiscal year.”

The company has 34 handset models and is planning the increase it up to 94 handsets till the year end. Their future prospects will be to position themselves as one of leading players of the mobile telephony in the South Asian Countries like Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh and launch CDMA mobile handsets in India.

Harmison double puts England in control

England's quest to hand Kevin Pietersen his first win as England captain moved several steps closer on the fourth day at The Oval. Steve Harmison bowled a terrific, fiery spell of eight overs, removing South Africa's two key batsmen, Hashim Amla and Jacques Kallis, and was well supported by James Anderson, Stuart Broad and Andrew Flintoff who removed Ashwell Prince 15 minutes before lunch. At the interval, South Africa led by a meagre 46 as England took control.

Unlike yesterday, the conditions were dry and humid - ideal for swing bowling. And also unlike the third morning, Harmison immediately found a probing line outside the off stump. Amla's first shot of the morning was a loose flap to Broad's final delivery of his overnight over, and though the batsman laughed at his frantic stroke, it represented his waning focus on what was a crucial first session for both teams. In the third over of the day, Harmison went wider of the crease and angled in another scorching short delivery that Amla could only fend behind. It was snaffled one-handed with a wobble by Tim Ambrose who lay flat on his back with relief. Outstanding though the catch was, especially considering he has a broken finger, it seems unlikely to be a career-saving one.

It has defied belief to watch Kallis struggle with such consistency this series, and his woes continued on the fourth morning. Harmison was relentlessly fast, forcing Kallis to fend him awkwardly out to point and keeping him well on the back foot. Anderson, meanwhile, initially struggled with his line but soon brought the prodigious swing under control. He couldn't quite perfect his booming inswinger to Kallis, however.

For someone so out of form, Kallis craved a slice of luck - and he got a fat tranche on 9 when he drove Harmison low to Pietersen at mid-off. Yet the very next ball, England ended his series horriblis on 104 runs when he fended a sharp and rising delivery from Harmison low to Paul Collingwood at third slip. South Africa were effectively 16 for 4 and neither Prince or AB de Villiers looked capable of coping with England's disciplined lines.

Pietersen maintained an aggressive, slip-heavy field. And once Anderson had finished his spell, Broad - who has struggled with his bowling in this series - replaced him. He too found booming inswing to Prince, the left-hander, who has lost some confidence since his earlier centuries in the series. Rarely moving his feet, reaching out dangerously for balls wide of his off stump, he drove loosely at a big inswinger from Broad before loosely clattering one out through extra cover.

And all the while, England's best bowler was left relaxing in the slip cordon. After Harmison's superb eight-over spell of 2 for 12, Flintoff was finally brought into the attack and his back-of-a-length pace was not to Prince's liking. An edge fell short of Alastair Cook at point off Broad before Flintoff lured him into a loose cut, the ball flying to Andrew Strauss at slip. To have Flintoff coming into bowl at first or second change is a luxury England have not been afforded for far too long, which only emphasises the influence Harmison has on the whole balance of England's attack. Flintoff grazed de Villiers' visor with a fierce bouncer before shaving his back with another deadly straight one in the next over.

Monty Panesar was brought on for a few pre-lunch overs and found a bit of bounce and turn, but de Villiers fought with impressive resolve to stave him off. Leading by 46, South Africa have it all to do with just five second-innings wickets remaining.

Sri Lanka in firm control as India stutter

For 40 minutes before tea India sparkled, but Sri Lanka kept gnawing away and by stumps had closed in on a first series win over India since 2001.

Kumar Sangakkara and the Sri Lankan lower order frustrated India and made them look a sorry bunch for the best part of two sessions, and Dammika Prasad again provided the crucial breakthroughs before the spinners took charge. Ajantha Mendis dismissed Sachin Tendulkar for the first time - his 25th wicket in Tests, making his the best debut in a three-match series.

The two spells of Sri Lankan dominance sandwiched a brisk start by Virender Sehwag and Gautam Gambhir, but the Indian openers played two shots too many. The Fab Four, two of them walking wounded, couldn't come up with resistance enough, bar Rahul Dravid, who struggled and fought his way to his highest score of the series, 46.

After India had fallen behind by 147, Sehwag and Gambhir reacted to the situation the only way they knew, by attacking. There were boundaries in each of the nine overs before tea. Prasad was hit for a first-ball four, as he had been in the first innings. Before many noticed, Sehwag and Gambhir had brought up their fourth half-century partnership in a row. When Gambhir cut Muttiah Muralitharan for a single in the last over before tea, he reached 1000 Test runs.

Like he had in the first innings, Prasad struck, dismissing the two in successive overs. The wickets were more fortuitous this time: Sehwag cut straight to gully, and Gambhir played a pull shot on. Enter Rahul Dravid and Sourav Ganguly, looking determined to play the day out, giving Tendulkar and VVS Laxman, who were both injured, some time to recover.

Dravid and Ganguly managed to put on the longest partnership by any two members of India's big four in the series, but they never got Mendis and Murali out of their faces. It sometimes seemed the two were just delaying the inevitable. Dravid looked more comfortable than he had in the series till then, but he was almost bowled twice, by classical offbreaks from the two spinners - both times he was saved by an inside edge. Ganguly narrowly escaped a stumping, and finally fell while sweeping a Murali doosra.

In came Parthiv Patel, and three balls later, out he went, forcing the injured Tendulkar out into the middle. Tendulkar, his left elbow bandaged, seemed to have made his mind up to not play at most deliveries. Murali thrice came close to getting him lbw, but it was Mendis who finally got him, with a googly Tendulkar did not pick. Not only did an injured Tendulkar never really look comfortable, for the first time in the series, he looked helpless.

It was an interesting comparison: did India look more hapless in the final session or the first two, when they were run ragged by Kumar Sangakkara's rediscovered appetite for big runs, and lower-order partnerships. They were short on manpower (Ishant Sharma didn't take the field today), and exhausted by the effort of keeping the game in the balance yesterday. Sri Lanka's batsmen made sure they capitalised, and even after Sangakkara was dismissed shortly before lunch, Prasanna Jayawardene and Dammika Prasad frustrated the tired Indians. The last three took the lead from 75 to 147.

The spinners persisted in letting Sangakkara take easy singles, but India were slow, both mentally and physically, as they also repeatedly allowed Sangakkara to retain the strike by either not bringing the field up at the end of overs or simply by misfielding.

Sangakkara enjoys it when he has a team down: 11 of his 17 centuries have been scores of more than 150; the lowest he has been dismissed for after having made a century is 128. Today he continued in much the same vein as he had played yesterday, but as if he had started a new innings. The expansive strokeplay was not on offer, as the fields were deep and the bowling defensive. But he didn't miss a single opportunity to convert half-runs.

As the lead passed 50, Sangakkara started to take a few more liberties with the bowling, manufacturing a shot or two. But after seven hours and seven minutes of exceptional batting in the heat of Colombo, he misread the spin on an Anil Kumble delivery, got a thin edge, and walked off. He fell short of what would have been a 12th 150, but his disappointment suggested he had been eyeing a seventh double.

The Sri Lankan tail had some fun after that. The first ball Prasad faced in Test cricket, he sent to the third-man boundary - revenge, perhaps, for being hit for four by Gambhir off the first ball he bowled. The next ball, the first of a Zaheer Khan over, was pulled away through square leg for four by Prasanna, who also came up with an exquisite cover-drive in the same over. Their partnership finally ended at 43, as Prasanna fell one short of a half-century, but that didn't spell relief for India. Mendis and Prasad stuck around for eight overs, surviving bouncers, looking ungainly, and yet managing outrageous boundaries. Mendis was the last man out, but not before he had taken his career runs to within four of his wickets tally.

That wickets tally swelled in the final session by two, and in a testing ten-over spell before stumps, it seemed he would take more. But Laxman, nursing an injured left ankle, and Dravid, fighting to keep his reputation intact, saw India through to stumps courageously.

Bell and Cook fall but Pietersen solid

South Africa took the early wicket of Ian Bell on the second morning at The Oval and that of Alastair Cook 10 minutes before lunch, but England's new captain, Kevin Pietersen, was unbeaten on a confident 42 as the fourth Test was left intriguingly poised.

Bell has yet to make a hundred at No.3, and he'll have to wait until the second innings at the earliest in order to rectify that. After a thirty-minute delay for rain, Makhaya Ntini found one to hold its line on Bell, who was defending to extra cover, and it took a thick outside edge to Graeme Smith at first slip who held it smartly, low to his right.

Bounding down the steps, and met with warm but subdued applause by the crowd, came Pietersen and he was soon beaten by a shorter delivery from Ntini which held its line. Ntini has lacked the presence which made him such an unstoppable force for South Africa but, though his pace has clearly declined in the last 12 months, he remains a formidable opponent who has become adept at bowling in helpful conditions. Conditions such as today's: grey, gloomy and overcast, and Ntini found just enough movement to trouble Cook and Pietersen. Initially, at any rate.

His natural wide-of-the-crease angle is made for Pietersen's habitual leg-side play, and he was flicked beautifully for four through midwicket. It was a perfect example of the contrast in techniques between two contrasting players. Bell, on the one hand, came forward to defend but could only nick it to slip. Pietersen, to a near-identical delivery, walked across his stumps and mowed it through midwicket. He followed it up with a powerful on-drive and was soon ticking nicely.

Smith quickly withdrew Ntini from the attack, wary of Pietersen's love of anything on his legs, but Morne Morkel was treated with the same disdain, twice pulled through midwicket with power. Cook, meanwhile, struggled with his timing - though, like Pietersen, anything on his legs was dealt with comfortably. Morkel eventually found one to angle across the left-hander, and Cook was lured into a loose, washy waft which is becoming a worrying trend with his off-stump play. Ugly runs are better than none at all, however, and his grafting resilience helped register a third-wicket stand of fifty that was dominated by Pietersen.

England's new captain continued to look in terrific touch, though he was constrained by a disciplined line of attack from Jacques Kallis and Andre Nel. Kallis, in particular, tried to lure Pietersen with repeated outswingers but they were comfortably left alone. And when he did pitch it up, Pietersen responded with an emphatic on-drive straight down the ground. Ntini was brought back into the attack 10 minutes before lunch and induced a thick outside edge from Pietersen, the ball flying past gully, and two balls later Cook attempted to cut him square, but could only edge it to Mark Boucher. He was rightly furious with himself.

Paul Collingwood nearly ran himself out with a frantic single in the penultimate over before lunch, and the match was intriguingly poised with England still trailing by 78.

Mendis and Prasad put Sri Lanka on top

Dammika Prasad's raw pace pulled India back after an explosive start, whereupon the spinners took charge of the game, as has been their wont over the course of the series. India's middle order failed again, as they fell from 51 for 0 in seven overs to 198 for 9, after which Zaheer Khan and Ishant Sharma frustrated Sri Lanka for one ball less than 20 overs - the longest partnership of the innings, and at 51 runs also the joint highest. Ishant followed up the good work with the bat to get Malinda Warnapura's wicket two overs before stumps.

Mahela Jayawardene made exceptional use of the review system, getting the wickets of Gautam Gambhir and Rahul Dravid after challenging decisions. Gambhir had got off to his fifth start in five innings, and his third half-century in three, in characteristically aggressive fashion, but could only watch from the other end as his partners came and went, before he himself failed to convert his fifty into a big one.

Ajantha Mendis ended the frustrating last-wicket stand to finish with his second five-for, the fifth time he has taken at least four in five innings, but the real impact was caused by the debutant, Prasad.

Ever since Prasad was called up into the Sri Lanka squad after the first Test, his pace had been a talking point. And when he finally got the cap, that speed made the difference. He didn't bowl at 150kph, but he was quick enough to thwart any thoughts the batsmen might have had of dominating the bowlers. The difference he made was clear from Gambhir's contrasting approaches against Chaminda Vaas and Prasad. To Vaas he walked down the pitch, as he does in domestic cricket when facing lesser bowlers, nullifying any swing. When Vaas managed to beat him, he opened the face to run it towards third man. Vaas tried bouncing him out, but he managed to rock back and pull him for fours. But no such tactics were trotted out against Prasad, who took all three of his wickets - as opposed to buying them, which was what the Sri Lankan medium-pacers had done in the series till then.

After India chose to bat, both Gambhir and Sehwag outdid each other, hitting boundaries at will in the first half-hour. Prasad, fast and erratic to begin with, was handed a cruel baptism: Gambhir took a boundary off his first ball, Sehwag one off the first ball of his second over. After he managed to start his third over with a dot-ball, Prasad bowled a no-ball immediately after, which beat the keeper and went for four. The first ball of his fourth over was pummelled back to him and hit his left wrist viciously. After three minutes of treatment, he stunned Sehwag with one that held its line and took a faint edge through. The celebration - Prasad's eyes almost popping out of their sockets, Murali-like - spoke of how important the wicket was.

India had done enough damage by then, it seemed: they had reached 51 in 7.2 overs. In came Dravid, struggling to find form, struggling to keep the strike rotating. The scoring-rate came down, and even though Dravid looked comfortable defending, it allowed the bowlers to settle into a rhythm.

Prasad, in his second spell, came up with another special effort. He got one to swing in late, and beat Dravid's defence. Jayawardene challenged the not-out call that ensued, and replays showed that about 40% of the ball was inside the mat at the point of impact. As it would definitely have hit off and middle, and there was no inside edge, the point of impact was the only matter of contention, and the umpire was convinced enough to overturn his decision.

To make a good first session better, Prasad got Sachin Tendulkar, playing in his 150th Test, beating him with inward movement. Tendulkar, given out by Mark Benson, asked for a review, but the replay didn't show any conclusive evidence of an inside edge, which would have been the only reason to reverse the decision.

With two of the Fab Four gone, the spinners - especially Mendis - reinforced the vice grip they have had over the Indian middle order. Despite a quick start from Sourav Ganguly, who began with a boundary off Prasad and then lofted Muttiah Muralitharan over long-off, the middle order never really took charge of the game. Murali came back with a fastish offbreak that took Ganguly's edge even as he tried to hide bat behind pad.

Gambhir, meanwhile, seemed to be picking Mendis early, and looked to use his feet to him. He stepped out to hit a full toss from Mendis wide of mid-on to get to his sixth half-century. He then slowed down, which suggested he realised the need to get to at least a hundred, which he had last managed in 2004-05 against Bangladesh. But Mendis and Jayawardene teamed up again: Mendis beat Gambhir with an offbreak and Jayawardene opted for another challenge, after the proximity of the bat to the front pad and the ball had created enough doubt for the on-field umpire to rule in favour of the batsman. Replays suggested otherwise, and Sri Lanka had reduced India from 51 for 0 to 155 for 5 even before Murali and Mendis had really got going.

In the last over before tea, Mendis made sure India had squandered the advantage of winning the toss, by getting the last recognised batsman, VVS Laxman, with a legbreak. The rest, bar Zaheer and Ishant, were a mere formality. And the ease with which the last-wicket pair batted only made things look more threatening for India as they went out to field.

India squander advantage

There were two distinct parts to the day’s play that were split by a generous spell of rain. In the first part, Virender Sehwag shone like a beacon and in the second, Sri Lanka showed the kind of resilience similar to that of the old Galle Fort that braved the tsunami of 2004.

The annihilation by Sehwag in the first session was nothing less than total destruction while crafty bowling by Sri Lanka brought them back in the second.

Many a time Sehwag and Gautam Gambhir looked vulnerable and yet when lunch was taken after 29 overs, the Indian openers had put on an unbeaten 151.

It was rich entertainment but none of it normally associated with the traditional format.

After that, India lost their way a fair bit to end the truncated first day at 215/4 after a little over three hours were lost to rain.

The hosts came back strongly packing off four batsmen in the space of 20 deliveries after the openers had added 167.

What looked like a solid platform was suddenly reduced by some imaginative bowling by Chaminda Vaas and India’s now familiar nemesis Ajantha Mendis. Credit to the young spinner who picked the pieces well after his first spell of six overs was taken for 37 runs.

The openers were positive from the start and that was the key to not allowing Muttiah Muralitharan and Mendis develop any sort of rhythm. Using their feet well to counter the spin, the pair ensured they did not fall in the same trap of playing from the crease as they did at the SSC. Getting his front foot out of the way, Sehwag made room to drive or cut through the off-side.

Muralitharan obliged by pitching it short while Mendis pushed it a touch faster that allowed the slog sweep over cow corner.

The wicket was not essentially a batting beauty. The new ball kicked off a length and also died on the batsmen from the same spot. It required adjustment and Sehwag did it well, with touch of arrogance to boot.

The 7-2 off-side field made the line obvious but the captain could not be faulted for running out of ideas.

Just before lunch, Mahela Jayawardene reacted slowly to a sharp chance at first slip when Sehwag threw the bat hard to an off-spinner from Murali.

Gambhir, at the other end, complemented the efforts of his partner with some positive running. The century partnership came in 115 balls. The ghosts of the previous game were laid to rest for sure.

The rain break helped Sri Lanka to regroup. Gambhir was trapped by a Mendis googly. This time the referral went in favour of the bowler.

Rahul Dravid walked to the crease careworn and with more doubts than he would ever carried. His first single carried him past Sunil Gavaskar’s Test tally of 10,122 but he was to leave soon, snapped by Warnapura off Mendis.

Sachin Tendulkar warmed up well with a pleasing off drive but was caught at the crease by a in-slanter from Vaas. Sourav Ganguly followed a delivery that shaped away.

V.V.S. Laxman settled quickly and treated the ball solely on merit.

Sehwag looked like batting in another planet. He just continued with his strokes paying scant respect to what had happened before.