The country’s leading mobile operator Grameenphone and handset brand Symphony on Tuesday launched a low-cost smartphone with Firefox operating system in partnership with Mozilla, an organisation best known for the Firefox web browser.
The new handset, Symphony GoFox F15, will cost Tk 4,650 and will be available at the GP and Symphony outlets from next week.
The GoFox F15 has a 3.5-inch display, 1GHz processor and 512 RAM with a 3.5 megapixel rear-facing camera.
The GP is offering 20MB free data everyday under the Bondhu package for the handset only.
‘Still in Bangladesh 80 per cent people are not aware of internet or don’t know about the usefulness of it. So as part of our ambition to bring internet for all, we want to stimulate the experience of smartphones,’ GP chief executive officer Vivek Sood said while launching the handset at a city hotel.
The cooperation with Mozilla has originated through Telenor Digital Services, part of Grameenphone’s parent company Telenor ASA.
‘Through this initiative the Telenor Group is truly embracing our internet-for-all ambition, providing not only the Bangladeshi market with low-cost smartphones, but also an easy and affordable experience to the benefits of the mobile internet,’ said Telenor Digital Services head Rolv-Erik Spilling.
Mozilla chief technical officer Andreas Gal said Bangladesh was a country of huge potential when it came to use of internet.
‘There are still many people here in Bangladesh who are waiting for the internet connection and will come online in next few years. That is what brings Mozilla to Bangladesh,’ he said.
Symphony chairman Aminur Rashid said his company had future plans to launch high-end handsets with the Firefox operating system.
‘Last year we had monthly sales on average 60,000 handsets. This year it has increased to 2 lakh handsets per month. We have the target of selling 5 lakh sets monthly in next few years,’ he said.
Replying to a question why the Firefox OS handset was costing around $60 in Bangladesh while the price of similar handset in India is available at $33, Aminur said, ‘The specification of the handset in Bangladesh is higher than India and the higher tax also pushed up the price.’
-With New Age input
