Ericsson to put in Rs 450 cr annually

Swedish telecom equipment giant Ericsson today announced an investment of $100 million (nearly Rs 450 crore) every year in India with an option to enhance it depending upon the growth.

"We will be investing $100 million annually for the next five years. The figure could go up depending upon the growth in the sector," Mats Granryd, Managing Director, Ericsson India, told reporters here.

Asked about Ericsson's projections of growth in the Indian telecom sector, he said last year GSM cellular mobile telephony grew by 100 per cent. "This is growing phenomenally and I do not see an end to it," he added.

Ericsson's global CEO Carl-Henric Svanberg, who is here to attend CII-CEOs forum, said: "Indian telecom market has grown more than double in last five years and we have a lot of activity here."

About 45 million line GSM tender, in which Ericsson emerged the lowest bidder, getting into legal wrangle after US telecom giant Motorola challenged the process in the Delhi High Court, Carl-Henric said: "Faster the solution the better it is. Delay is not positive for BSNL."

He also said the company was working with various operators on the next generation (3G) mobile services, saying the trial runs were on but did not name the operators citing the company's policy not to declare the names.

Carl-Henric, who also heads the mobile handset venture Sony Ericsson, hinted that prices of cellphones were coming down and a 3G handset could cost as less as 100 dollar a piece (about Rs 4,500).

"Market is booming in voice and exciting time is coming for mobile broadband. We are in the business of supplying infrastructure and we see a great potential here as every operator is working in this direction," he said.

Ericsson has pioneered a 3G mobile telphony software - High Speed Packet Access (HSPA) - and has been working with the leading operators across the world.

The company is waiting for the final policy on 3G mobile telephony as it was ready to offer solutions for wireless broadband, especially in rural areas, he said.