Nokia Siemens to invest Rs 105 cr for 3G

Telecommunications equipment major Nokia Siemens is planning to invest around Rs 105 crore in its Chennai facility over the next two years to manufacture 3G equipment.

Nokia Siemens head (networks operations) Herbert Merz, who inaugurated the company's new 3G manufacturing production line at the Oragadam facility near here, said the company had entered into an MoU with the state government in June 2008 for setting up a manufacturing facility at Oragadam at an investment of Rs 300 crore to manufacture 2G communication infrastructure for local and global customers.

Of this, around Rs 220 crore had already been invested, he said. On the launch of 3G communication infrastructure, Merz said the first batch of 3G-enabled base stations from the facility were rolled out recently.

Merz said the company would initially manufacture radio frequency and system modules, besides ramping up production for both these products in the later half of this year.

“With the proposed additional investments, the company is also planning to acquire 1,400 square metres of land near the existing facility. The products manufactured here are primarily targeted at the domestic market. However, we also plan to focus on exports from here,” he said.

Nokia Siemens had planned to commence production of transport modules and next-generation microwave radios from the second half of 2010, besides increasing the 3G manufacturing headcount from 75 to 210 by the third quarter of 2010, he said, adding “the company has set up 3G test labs in the country and has so far trained 3,200 Indian field engineers to support their 3G roll outs.”

Nokia Siemens Networks country head Urs Pennanen said the company had inaugurated a research and development centre in Bangalore in February to support 3G-related initiatives for the domestic market.

At present, the company employs around 600 people at the Oragadam facility. With the proposed additional investment, it plans to increase the direct employment to 500.