Taiwanese phone devices maker High Tech Computer Corp (HTC) has entered into a strategic tie-up with India's telecom giant Bharti Airtel to market its personal digital assistant (PDA) phones, IndoAsian News Service (IANS) reported here Friday.

The Microsoft Windows-enabled PDA phones, also called smart devices, would initially be available only for users of Indian telecom giant Airtel, both in the prepaid and post-paid segment, in 10 cities in India, including the four metros.

However, the company has also decided to introduce the scheme in 25 other cities in the next three months.

"India is one of the fastest growing telecom markets in the world. We would definitely like to enter this highly competitive market and we thought the best option to enter this market is with Airtel," the IANS quoted Peter Chou, chief executive officer of the HTC, as saying Friday.

The HTC would be initially importing the phones from Taiwan but it has not ruled out the option of setting up a manufacturing unit here, depending on the volume of sales, company officials said.

The company had a turnover of 3.15 billion U.S. dollars in 2005- 06 and it currently employs over 5,000 workers globally.