The Hindu : Business : Nokia to produce base station controller in Chennai

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Wednesday, Jun 01, 2005

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Business

Nokia to produce base station controller in Chennai

Sandeep Dikshit

SRINAGAR: The Finnish telecom major, Nokia, on Tuesday announced plans to manufacture part of mobile network infrastructure in Chennai. Last month, the company had said it was setting up its a mobile handset manufacturing unit, also in Chennai. Both products will start rolling out in the first quarter of next year, said the Nokia Senior Vice President, Kari Sonali, who was present here at the launch of Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited's (BSNL) mobile roll-out for north India. Nokia is a major equipment supplier for this phase of the roll-out.

The announcement follows the Union Communications and Information Technology Minister, Dayanidhi Maran's, exhortation to equipment manufacturers to make a part of the equipment being supplied to Indian phone service providers in the country itself. Mr. Maran had also indicated that BSNL might incorporate a clause in future tenders providing for the equipment to be manufactured in India.

Mr. Sonali said the unit in Chennai would manufacture high-end base station controller (BSC), a high-end network infrastructure element. "With this, Nokia becomes the only telecom vendor in India to manufacture both network infrastructure and terminals in the country," he added. The announcement comes in the wake of fast expansion of networks in the Indian market based on aggressive plans of several GSM service providers over the next few years.

Nokia's operations in India now include three R & D facilities and an upcoming manufacturing facility in Chennai that will produce both terminals (handsets) and GSM infrastructure equipment. "India is already among the top five telecom markets in the world and is set to reach the third position in the next few years," the Nokia official added.

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