Major Telecom Vendors May Outsource Manufacturing To India

BANGALORE, India — Alcatel, Ericsson, Nokia and Motorola are among the global telecom equipment vendors considering setting up infrastructure equipment manufacturing plants in India.

The Indian government has plans to have at least 250 million subscribers in the next few years and has invited these vendors to take advantage of the expected boom in subscriber numbers, according to a government statement in New Delhi today.

Manufacturing in India will play a key role in getting to this targeted number, according to Dayanidhi Maran, India's minister for communications and information technology.

Alcatel is finalizing its manufacturing strategy but is already studying the possibility of setting up a global research center on WiMax in collaboration with an undisclosed research and development organization.

Ericsson intends to set up a telecoms equipment infrastructure manufacturing plant in India.Nokia, which has announced plans to set up a mobile handset manufacturing plant in India, is to finalize an infrastructure equipment manufacturing plant in May this year.

Motorola, too is exploring a similar possibility, according to the government statement.