There are a large number of reasons for Ericsson India, which is shaping the
future of mobile and broadband Internet communications through technology
innovation, for making it to the Top 10 Club.
First, the fabulous revenue growth was the main factor that contributed to
its cheerful phase in India. During FY '06-07 Ericsson India's revenue was up by
95% to touch a magical figure of Rs 5,004 crore against
Rs 2,572 crore in previous fiscal.
The 95% growth stems from a number of major deals they struck in India. The
main contracts in India include: seven-year agreement with Reliance to create
3G-ready converged network backbone, BSNL expansion order for 1.5 mn subscribers
in North zone, hosted EMO initiative of Bharti, extension of Bharti's managed
capacity and managed services contracts by another three years, IPX contract
with Hutchison, Bharti, Idea, TTSL, BSNL and Reliance, BSNL-hosted PRBT project,
first shared in building solution (IBS) order from Bangalore International
Airport, three-year EMO contract with Spice, BSNL's GSM expansion, GSM expansion
contract with Idea Cellular for Maharashtra, Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Himachal
Pradesh and Rajasthan, and the mobile softswitch order from Hutchison.
In other South East Asian nations, Ericsson bagged major deals including MTN
Sri Lanka for hosted Web/Wap content delivery portal, network and technology
consulting contract with Bhutan Telecom, Bhutan Telecom expansion, Dialog
Telecom expansion, Dialog 3G contract in Sri Lanka, Bhutan Telecom's GSM and IN
expansion project, PDH micorowave radio contract with Ranks Telecom in
Bangladesh, pact with Grameenphone to build and integrate IP mobile backbone
network, and Warid Telecom's project to plan, design and integrate in-building
solution covering 43 cities in Bangladesh, etc.
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Areas of operation: Wireline, Wireless, Transmission,
Broadband and Voice Solutions.
Address: Ericsson Forum, DLF Cybercity,
Sector-25A, Gurgaon 122 002
Haryana, India
Phone: +91 124 2560808
Fax: +91 124 2565454
website: www.ericsson.com/in
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Highlights
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Managed services deal
with Bharti
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GSM expansion contract
with Idea
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Jaipur plan takes care
of India requirement
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Rural connectivity and
broadband will be the two business focus areas in 2007
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Improved market position in
the
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IP-PBX segment
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Under the leadership of Mats Granryd, MD, Ericsson India, innovations were at
the front of all major initiatives in the country. For instance, Idea Cellular,
Ericsson and the GSM Association's Development Fund have joined hands to develop
bio-fuels as a source of power for wireless networks in rural India, where power
is a scarce commodity. In a pilot project in Pune, they started using bio-fuels
to power mobile base stations located beyond the reach of the electricity grid.
The first phase of the project,
Mats Granryd
which is testing the feasibility of non-edible
plant-based fuels, such as cotton and jatropha, is nearing completion.
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Localization is one of
our key building blocks'
How would you rate your performance last year?
Last year was very good. We had some really exciting orders and set up the
first 3G network in Sri Lanka. We have grown faster than the industry, and this
is due to our continued focus on local manufacturing and localization, which
helps us to be more flexible to operator requirements; our global service
capability which allows us to roll-out networks rapidly and manage the booming
traffic; our commitment to R&D and our emphasis on people who finally deliver
these results for our customers.
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Mats
Granryd |
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managing director
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How have you performed on the manufacturing front?
For us, in India, the requirements of the booming telecom sector are met
entirely through our manufacturing plant at Jaipur. Local manufacturing and
localization are key building blocks of our business strategy. And will continue
to be a focus area.
Bharti Airtel has been a success story for Ericsson India. Any developments
on that front in the last fiscal?
We extended our contract with Bharti on managed services and managed
capacity (MSMC) model for the next three years. This is a reiteration of
Bharti's confidence in Ericsson. We will continue to partner with Bharti to make
sure we continue to grow this partnership.
What's your strategy on 3G and rural infrastructure, and how do you plan
to move forward in FY 2007-08?
Rural connectivity and broadband are the two business focus areas for us in
2007. We have been working on a couple of progressive initiatives in both areas.
These are: Project MOST infrastructure sharing project (we were part of a
successful pilot with COAI and the operators to roll out shared infrastructure
which later resulted in USO-funded network roll-out initiative to increase
telecom coverage in rural India); we have partnered with IDEA and GSMA to use
locally produced bio-fuels to power base stations in rural areas; the Expander
solution is our proposition to increase rural coverage in India and we are
working with operators to ensure that using this solution, there is a strong
business case for rural customers.
On the enterprise front, how has been your performance?
We have made significant improvement in our market position in the IP-PBX
segment, contact center and video conferencing solutions. We are focusing on
mobile health solutions as a priority area. While performance has been
satisfactory, we realize that some of these segments are at early stages of
market development and there is room for improvement.
Ericsson India is focusing more on mobile applications for service providers.
How would you rate your performance in the last fiscal?
Hosted services are a very important element of our services strategy. We
are working closely with operators across India for hosted services. Offtake of
these services has been extremely good. The increasing scope of our engagement
with operators in the hosting area is a proof of reliability of Ericsson systems
and expertise in increasing operator revenue through value added services. The
overall growth has been good and we expect this to continue.
What are your investment plans in FY 2007-08?
As committed, we will invest $100 mn this year.
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For broadband the company has tied up with Intel. As per the agreement, both
the players will accelerate deployment of services and applications on mobile
PCs, powered by Ericsson's mobile broadband and IMS solutions, and Intel core
micro-architecture for mobile clients and services. The association includes
marketing and technology enabling programs for software vendors to develop and
market multimedia applications for networks.
With India looking at reaching a magical 500 mn mark in telecom users by
2010, and action on 3G and broadband expected to escalate during the next couple
of years, the outlook for GSM/WCDMA systems market growth will be warm for the
telecom giant.
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