Surana Telecom to Manufacture WLL Handsets

As India Inc opens up its communication policies in favour of the end user,

there has been an increasing demand for better communications equipment  within the country. To address this need, Surana Telecom Ltd (STL), a

Hyderabad-based  telecom equipment maker, has tied up with LG Electronics to

manufacture handsets for code division multiple access (CDMA), or wireless

in local loop (WLL) phones.

"There has been a dearth of better India made communication equipment and we

are going to address this need. CDMA handset has been widely dubbed as a  common man's mobile and as BSNL gets more and more customers for its WLL

services, there will be a lot of demand towards this end. We want to be  there for the common man by manufacturing CDMA

handsets within Hyderabad,"  said Narender Surana, Managing Director,

STL.

This move by STL will surely spur the growth of mobile community within the country as more and more people will go for the cheap tariff backed CDMA

handsets and increase the overall tele-density of the country. To start with, STL will be making 4.2 lakh CDMA handsets, with technology from LG

Electronics. STL has submitted bids for the supply of CDMA handsets to  state-owned telecom giant, Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd and it will also be

making 2.8 lakh portable CDMA kits.

Surana said STL would be setting up an assembly plant for the CDMA project.

The handsets will be supplied in semi-knocked down kits and will be  assembled at the plant, which will be located at STL's manufacturing unit in

Hyderabad. STL is one of India's largest manufacturers of optical fiber cable and jelly-filled cables, with manufacturing units based in

Hyderabad  and Goa. Most of the fiber and jointing kits are sold to BSNL through the

usual bidding process.

Dogged by cut-throat competition and delay in BSNL contracts, STL didn't had

a good performance in the second quarter of 2002-03, with the company  recording a net profit of Rs 10.2 lakh on net sales of Rs 5.3 crore, against

a net profit of Rs 1.38 crore on net sales of Rs 10.51 crore in the same quarter of the previous year.

It is interesting to note that the past few months have been tough on OFC

producers within the Indian region as private sector telecom companies  prefer fiber imported from Europe and the US, from manufacturers like

Corning, who had a glut of the product because telecom companies in the US like WorldCom crashed.

STL's Goa unit manufactures optical fiber cable besides other telecom  equipment. Indian fiber manufacturers have been lobbying the government to

slap anti-dumping duties on imported fiber optic cables, but the government

is yet to take a decision on this front.