Nokia exporting up to 70% of India production, says Tarun Chhabra

Leveraging on the production linked incentive (PLI) scheme, Nokia is exporting between 30 per cent and 70 per cent of its production from its own factory in India, making it an important hub for the Finish telecom gear company.

 

Tarun Chhabra, who has been recently appointed as the country head of Nokia India, says: “Our export varies from 30 per cent to 70 per cent, depending upon how much is the domestic consumption. Last year, our exports stood at 50 per cent, mainly radio equipment. We have in the last 16 years manufactured 7.9 million radio equipment to be precise in this country, and exported to 80-100 countries in the world, including the US.”

 

Chhabra says India is important in the global play for many reasons. “It is one of the top three-to-four markets for us. That apart, it is very important from multiple angles. We have a total India employee count of 17,000 out of a total of around 80,000 globally. We have one of the biggest R&D centres here in Bengaluru, which is 7,000 to 8,000 employees, especially in mobile networks and others. Then we have global support and delivery centres in India, from where we are supporting other customers,” he adds.

 

The company in India saw its revenues in the fourth quarter (Q4) of 2024 hit Euro 463 million, up by 22 per cent from Euro 379 million in Q4 of 2023. However, in Q1 to Q4 of 2024, its total revenues were at Euro 1,373 million, dropping from Euro 2,842 million in the previous year, when it was installing large 5G networks in the country for all the key telcos.

 

“Though 2024 was lesser than 2023, 2025 is expected to grow as compared to 2024. For instance, there is growth happening in FWA (fixed wireless access). It is becoming a success story overall and FWA devices consume 8-10 times more data than a mobile phone. So, this means, if FWA grows, there will be more bandwidth required, which is equivalent to 100 million mobile subscribers and that is a big opportunity for us too,” Chhabra says.

 

Not only that the 5G subscriber base, which is at 290 million, will continue to grow. “As much as 79 per cent of the smartphones shipped in 2024 were 5G-enabled. And that number is increasing every quarter, so more capacity will be required in the network, which is again an opportunity,” adds Chhabra.

 

Discussions are also on with Vodafone-Idea, which is planning to roll out 5G, he reveals. Therefore, there is an opportunity that emanates from data centre growth in the country, he says, expecting expansion in network infrastructure too. “I can see that there's a potential opportunity of growth in almost all three segments in India.”

 

Not only that Nokia is also getting into other areas of hardware — it has tied up with Dixon Technologies, which will manufacture set-top boxes for FWA that powers the service.

 

Chhabra says apart from FWA, the country has only 290 million 5G subscribers today, which will also grow quickly.

 

On the opportunity of satellite broadband and its impact on their business, Chhabra says: “Of course, it is a different technology. Most likely what I can say is that it will complement terrestrial to some extent in some areas like rural, or where it is difficult to cover terrain-wise. But I think still early days, let us see how it evolves over the years.”