Ericsson eyes 20% biz from Digital India, smart cities by 2020

Telecom gearmaker Ericsson today announced setting up of a new unit -- Industry and Society -- which will focus on smart cities, the Digital India campaign and other technology projects from the government.
It's expected to account for 20 per cent of the group's overall business from India.
"We are setting up a new unit 'Industry and Society' that will focus on Digital India, smart cities, public safety, utilities and transport segments. We are looking for a fifth of our business to come from our Industry and Society vertical by 2020," Ericsson India V-P and head of Engagement Practices Nishant Batra told reporters here.

He said the central government's interest in Digital India and smart cities offers "enormous business opportunity".
The government has clubbed all its digital programmes under Digital India with an estimated Rs 1.13 lakh crore projects initially. It has also approved a plan for building 100 smart cities in India with an outlay of Rs 48,000 crore.
"With the government becoming a significant buyer, there is a massive opportunity for the industry. This is something the telecom sector in India is seeing for the first time. We are seeing a lot of interest in utilities and public safety from different state governments," Batra said.

Ericsson has registered its highest-ever sales growth of 81 per cent in India during the three months to September, driven by higher investments in mobile broadband service.
The Indian arm of Ericsson registered a net sales of 3.6 billion Swedish Krona (SEK), or Rs 2,769 crore, in the July-September 2015 compared with SEK 2 billion, (Rs 1,525 crore) a year ago.
"Ericsson is uniquely positioned to bring the right mix of technologies and delivery models to industries. Over 40 per cent of the world's mobile traffic passed through our network equipment. We have been doing this around the globe and we are leveraging the same in India," Ericsson Industry and Society Head Orvar Hurtig said.