Ericsson, Nokia scale up operations as firms gear up for 5G launch

Ericsson will make 5G radios and microwave equipment at Pune plant; Nokia has been enhancing staff skill sets over past 3-4 our years

Telecom equipment manufacturers are scaling up their local operations with the upcoming roll-out of commercial 5G services. On Wednesday, Bharti Airtel announced that it would deploy 5G services from August after announcing network agreements with Ericsson, Nokia, and Samsung. While Airtel had partnered with Ericsson and Nokia for its 4G equipment, the tie up with Samsung is its first.

Ericsson will be manufacturing 5G radios and microwave equipment at its Pune plant, which was set up in 2016 and has been manufacturing 5G equipment for exports, largely to Southeast Asian countries.

“We will be scaling up our 5G production to meet the roll-out requirements of the Indian market,” a spokesperson for Ericsson said.

Nokia, too, is strengthening its factory operations in Chennai, apart from enhancing skill sets of its staff over the last three-four years in preparation of the roll-out of 5G service in India.

The company’s Chennai plant has manufactured over 5 million telecom network equipment units since 2008 and over 50 per cent of these have been exported. The plant has been manufacturing and exporting 5G equipment since 2018.

“Most domestic needs for RAN (radio access network) equipment are being met from Chennai and we expect this to remain the same for 5G,” Nokia said in an email response. “We have been investing in the country over the years and hope to only further strengthen our factory operations,” it added.

Both Ericsson and Nokia are participating in the productivity-linked incentive (PLI) scheme for telecom. Nokia said it has exceeded the investment targets under the scheme for the year.

“We have been preparing for the advent of 5G in India for 3 to 4 years. We have steadily invested in enhancing the skill sets of our people. Our global network operations centre in Noida has been supporting 5G networks across the globe and our R&D facility in Bengaluru has been consistently and continually contributing to the evolution of 5G, 5G advanced and now even 6G standards,” Nokia said.

Mobile service providers acquired spectrum worth Rs 1.5 trillion in the week-long auction that concluded on Monday. Companies bought 51,336 MHz of spectrum, which was 71 per cent of the spectrum on offer.

The Department of Telecommunication has completed the spectrum harmonisation process, allowing for streamlined holding. It plans to allocate spectrum to companies by August 12,  Union Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw said.