Nokia expands operations in India

Nokia today announced plans to establish a high-end base station controller manufacturing unit in Chennai, India.

The move follows the Finnish mobile giant's decision in April to set up a mobile device production facility in Chennai.

Nokia said that base station controller production will begin at the same time as terminal production during the first half of 2006.

"Nokia is confident of India's skilled labour force's ability to handle the manufacturing of high-end network infrastructure elements, such as base station controllers," said Simon Beresford-Wylie, executive vice president and general manager of networks at Nokia.

The announcement follows the fast expansion of networks in the Indian market based on aggressive plans by all GSM service providers over the next few years.

"India is already among the top five telecoms markets in the world and is set to reach the third position in the next few years. In order to sustain this growth, rapid expansion of mobile networks will be essential," said Beresford-Wylie.

Nokia's operations in India will include three R&D centres and an upcoming manufacturing facility in Chennai that will produce terminals and GSM infrastructure equipment.