ITI, Alcatel to make mobile equipment

Telecom PSU ITI has joined hands with French multinational Alcatel to manufacture mobile equipment at a facility set up in the Manak Pura area of uttar pradesh, which will be inaugurated by Congress President Sonia Gandhi tomorrow.

ITI's capacity would be enhanced by 3 million GSM mobile phone lines with incremental capital expenditure of Rs 7 crore by September, 2005. The existing infrastructure of ITI has been augmented with an additional capital expenditure of Rs 38 crore to establish manufacturing capacity of one million lines per annum.

The chairmen of Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL) and Mahanagar Telephone Nigam Limited (MTNL) will receive the first consignment of mobile equipment from Sonia Gandhi and Telecom Minister Dayanidhi Maran, an official statement said today.

The technology provided by alcatel is general packet radio service (GPRS) compliant, which is capable of providing all value added services including migration path to the third generation mobile (3G) systems.

The equipment manufactured by ITI, besides meeting the requirement of domestic needs will also have the potential for overseas markets, particularly in SAARC and Afro-Asian countries.

ITI also plans to explore export market in line with its technology provider, an additional 3 million line GSM equipment manufacturing facility at ITI Rai Bareilly and also to manufacture towers, shelters and power plants used for setting up mobile networks.

The government has taken steps for the rejuvenation of ITI units including ITI Bangalore, to manufacture CDMA infrastructure equipment and CDMA handset, ITI Palakkad to fabricate the next-generation network products, ITI Naini to an manufacture optical range of products.