No decision yet on Finland ops: Wipro

Wipro Technologies is yet to take a clear decision on the fate of 85 employees at Wipro Technologies Oy, its troubled IT services arm in Finland, pending talks with employee representatives. A top official of the company said consultations with employee representatives would start on January 28.

Pramod Idiculla, general manager - Strategy, Wipro Technologies, said no decision has been made on terminating the services of employees at the Finnish telecom R&D operations of the company, which has been facing various business challenges in the past year.

“The objective of the consultations with employees would be to examine and negotiate all possible alternatives. We will do everything possible to try and redeploy any potentially redundant employees within other areas of our business both within and outside Finland,” he added.

“What is jointly agreed between both the parties as part of the negotiation process will be implemented at the end of the process,” he said, adding that the business challenges faced by the company’s Finland operations pertain to the telecom R&D business.

“We do not expect any other areas of the Wipro business to be impacted. Europe, including Finland, continues to remain a key growth market for Wipro for our IT services business and R&D,” he said.

An industry analyst, who did not want to be quoted, said that the company’s telecom R&D business has been under strain as mobile services providers have been transferring substantial wireless application development work to their inhouse teams to cut costs in the wake of the economic slowdown.

Wipro had said that the planned negotiation process could impact a maximum of 85 people across four locations in Finland, including Rovaniemi, Kokkola, Pori and Oulu where Wipro Technologies Oy has offices. Operations in Helsinki, Tampere, Turku and Seinäjoki would continue without a hitch, the company added.

Wipro’s operations in Finland, anchored largely through the $32.5-million acquisition of Saraware Oy in 2006, employ an estimated 300 people currently. Idiculla declined to comment on how many of these employees are currently billable resources or revenues from the Finland operations, on the plea that the company does not share country-wise figures.

On the restructuring plans ahead for the Finnish operations, Idiculla said, “No decision has been made on this. We have only initiated consultation procedures in relation to our aim of restructuring the telecom R&D operations in Finalnd with the employee representatives.”

In Finland, Wipro’s operations have focussed on IT and R&D services. The Bangalore-based IT giant’s customer expansion plans in the telecom segment received a boost through the acquisition of mobile communications applications development company Saraware Oy in 2006.

Saraware, a provider of design and engineering services to telecom companies, has its domain competencies in the areas of radio networks and secure mobile platforms, catering to clients like Nokia and EADS.

The acquisition of Saraware was expected to help Wipro penetrate into high-growth segments like secure communications and give it the capability to handle complete outsourcing deals in the evolving GSM, 3G and Tetra markets. Scandinavian telecom players today hold almost 50 per cent of the global market share in the wireless infrastructure domain.