Hong Kong, Dec. 6 (PTI): Buoyed by the growing wireless market in India, Japanese electronics and technology firm Toshiba is planning to tap the country’s mobile segment by the end of this year.

“India is a very large market for us and is growing very rapidly. Japan has already achieved 70-80 per cent mobile penetration, which is forcing us to look overseas to meet our corporate demands,” Toshiba Corporation’s international operations division deputy manager Takeshi Aoki said on the sidelines of the ITU conference here.

The company is looking to tap the mobile market in India, Hong Kong, Taiwan and the European countries, he said.

“We will initially launch one GSM mobile handset in India within a few weeks, which will be marketed and distributed by the company along with a UK-based trading company in the country,” Aoki said, adding that subsequently the firm would roll out other phones.

However, he refused to divulge the name of the distributing company and the exact date of the launch. The company would target all age groups to make its foray a “success”, he said.

Toshiba sells laptops, printers and flat panel display televisions in India through its national distributor HCL and has recently made a foray into home appliances through its wholly owned subsidiary Toshiba India.

On the notebook space in India, he said Toshiba, which is currently at number three, is eyeing the second position.

“Our market share is 9.5 per cent in India and we are targeting to reach 15 per cent by the end of March 2007,” Toshiba manager-distributor business, South Asia, Ivan Kam said recently at a conference in India.

He said according to reports, around a million notebooks are sold in India, of which Toshiba has a 9.5 per cent share. The company is aiming to sell 150,000 laptops in India by March 2007.

The company is also spending about $1 million on television, print and billboard advertising as it aims to increase its share in the $1-billion market.

“There is a perception among the consumers that Toshiba notebooks are expensive and we want to change this myth. Our range starts from Rs 30,000, which is targeted at the students. Advanced users can go for the high-end notebooks,” he said, adding the dealer base in India would be doubled to 600 by March-end next year — “We are planning to add 3,500 more dealers in India.”

However, he refused to reveal the time frame to reach this mark.