A year ago we had broken the news about Future Group’s Mobile retailing venture in India with Axiom Telecom of the UAE. Today the JV announced the start of operations with a 50:50 JV. Big Bazaar already retails mobiles through Mobile /mBazaar shop-in-shop formats. However, Future Axiom Telecom mobile retail stores will be standalone stores to compete with Univercell, MobileNxt, Subhiksha Mobiles, etc.
Mr. Sehgal, CEO of Future Axiom Telecom said,
We are all set to venture into the Rs 45,000 crore mobile retail industry and set new benchmarks. We are confident that the affiliation of Indian retail expertise and West Asia’s mobile retail skill will be extremely rewarding to our customers.
Future Axiom plans to operate more than 500 stores and touch points in 60+ cities. They hope to have 1,500 point of sale presence by the end of 2009.