Nokia selects Chennai for its manufacturing in India

Espoo, Finland - Nokia today announced that it will set up a manufacturing
facility for mobile devices at Chennai. The manufacturing unit in Chennai
will be Nokia's tenth mobile device production facility globally. Nokia
anticipates investing an estimated USD 100-150 million in the India
production plant. “Establishing a new factory in India is an important step
in the continuous development of our global manufacturing network. We
selected Chennai to be the location for the factory thanks to the
availability of skilled labor, friendly business environment, support from
the state government, good logistics connections and overall
cost-efficiency," said Pekka Ala-Pietilä, President, Nokia.
According to a Nokia release, the construction work at the site of the
manufacturing unit will start in April and production is expected to begin
in the first half of 2006. Nokia foresees ramping up the factory gradually
and the work force reaching approximately 2,000 employees when production is
full scale.



Like many others Nokia also believes that mobile penetration in Asia Pacific
is expected to be a major contributor to the global mobile subscriber base
surpassing the two billion mark by the end of 2005. “Therefore, India which
is set at the heart of the region where mobile communications is growing
rapidly was a natural location of choice for the new production facility,” a
press release posted on its website said.



Announcing the decision to manufacture in India in December 2004 on a visit
to India Pekka Ala-Pietilä had acknowledged India's growing significance in
the growing mobile communications market. "The factory would be an integral
part of our global manufacturing network and help fulfill growing demand as
mobile communications become increasingly affordable and available to more
people in this diverse region," Ala-Pietilä announced. The vendor had also
said that it would be investing in the manufacturing in India to “better
meet the burgeoning demand for mobile devices in the country”. Nokia is the
leader in the Indian GSM handset market and the country is its 5th biggest
market in the world. Nokia did business worth 1.364 Euros in India in CY
2004.