Talktime

New Delhi: April 6: Nokia will set up its manufacturing facility for mobile handsets in Chennai, making it the tenth facility of the world?s largest handset maker.

The first mobile phone from the Chennai unit is expected to be available by next January. Until now, Nokia used to import handsets from its plant in China for the Indian market. Nokia has already announced plans to invest about $100-150 million in its Indian production plant.

Another telecom equipment manufacturer, Elcoteq, will inaugurate its manufacturing facility in Bangalore on Monday.

Nokia president Pekka Ala-Pietil? said, ?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 labour, friendly business environment, support from the state government, good logistics connections and overall cost-efficiency.?

Officials in Tamil Nadu Industrial Development Corporation (Tidco) said Nokia?s new facility at the capital of Tamil Nadu is likely to boost the image of the state and will persuade other telecom and information technology companies to invest here.

A senior Tamil Nadu government official said, ?We (Tamil Nadu) are an export-oriented economy. While the state will not get any revenue by this investment, it will certainly enhance the employment potential. Tamil Nadu has emerged as an important export base for countries in the East and this can be exploited by multi-national companies.?

Nokia said 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. The company will increase the infrastructure at the factory gradually and the workforce will reach about 2,000 employees when production is full scale.

Nokia executives said mobile penetration in Asia-Pacific is expected to be a major contributor to the global mobile subscriber base surpassing the 2-billion mark by the end of 2005.