Hyundai Electronics Unit, United Tele Ink Pact

Hyundai Electronics Asia Pte Ltd, a part of the $90 billion Korean conglomerate Hyundai Corporation, has signed a MoU with United Telecom Ltd to enter the telecom sector in India.

The Hyundai-United Telecom tie up plans to compete for all telecom tenders from the Department of Telecom (DoT) and also manufacture and market some of the Korean giant's telecom equipment to basic private telecom operators.

In the initial stage, United Telecom plans to launch Hyundai's CDMA (code division multiplex access) which enables wireless loop technology in local phones.

So far, ITI, Lucent (former AT&T) and Motorola were among the few who offered this technology in India.

 

The tie-up will make United Telecom the Indian representative for the $7 billion Hyundai Electronics. It will also help United Telecom in securing both Department of Telecom and private basic operators' orders in the telecom sector.

United Telecom will market and manufacture some of Hyundai's telecom instruments in India.

"Since United Telecom is already a major manufacturer of telecom equipment in India, the MoU will enable us to penetrate the Indian market with our products and designs," sources in Hyundai said.

However, they were tightlipped on details of the memorandum of understanding and said that the chairman of Hyundai Electronics would provide the necessary information in Bangalore next month.

This is the maiden entry for Hyundai in the telecom sector.

At present, United Telecom is a major equity partner in JT Mobiles - which has licenses for Karnataka and Andhra.

The alliance permits United Telecom to locally manufacture Hyundai Electronics' telecom instruments and other products.

Sources in Hyundai said United Telecom was considered a reliable partner by the Korean group for establishing a stronghold in the telecom sector. Hyundai Electronics manufactures CDMA systems based on technology from Qualcom of the US.

The CDMA technology works with a fixed terminal and a small antenna.

This helps in areas where laying telephone cables is impractical and time-consuming and where quick communication access needs to be established

Hyundai Electronics, whose core business is making DRAM and other memory chips, markets its chips to global PC majors like Compaq, Hewlett Packard, IBM, Digital and disk-maker Seagates. It also manufactures video CD players.

Software, computer and DRAM design are some of its other divisions. Sources in Hyundai Electronics said the company is presently scouting for a nationwide distributor in India for its computer monitor.

The Calcutta-based Byte Systems currently distributes its monitors but Hyundai is looking for a more aggressive partner in India to compete with Samtron, a major Korean player.

Hyundai Electronics invented the widely-known Mpeg II technology which enables clear video viewing in computers.