SAR Group, which already sells phones under the Wynn Telecom brand, has acquired a 51 percent stake in Meridian Mobile, which sells phones in India under the Fly Mobile brand. Fly Mobile is considered to be one of Wynn Telecom’s key competitors, with both selling about 200,000 cellphones every month in India, according to analyst estimates. This move will also open up the SAARC market for SAR Group. Meridian Group markets the Fly Mobile brand in UK, Russia and CIS countries. The SAR Group had also acquired another low-cost mobile phone vendor, G-fone, earlier this year. The group claims it will now become the fifth largest handset vendor in the country.

We believe this is just the beginning of mergers and acquisitions in the heavily crowded cellphone handset business in India. There are over 100 handset brands (we could not find an official/authoritative count), with many brands operating in small pockets to provide highly localized phones. However, with decreasing margins, low shipment volumes and increasing competition, mergers and acquisitions are inevitable. Most partnerships between competing handset brands would likely involve maintaining individual branding and market space but unifying shipments, warehouses, distribution and sales infrastructure.

Tags: Fly Mobile, G-fone, SAR Group acquires Fly Mobile, SAR Group acquires Meridian Telecom, Wynn Telecom