Nokia shifts services base to India

Nokia has announced shifting the hub of its global telecom network management services business to India from its home base in Finland. Nokia has contracted management services with 34 clients in 28 countries, and has provided operating services for over 20 operators globally, helping them with the day-to-day tasks of running their networks. The company also announced that its first global network solutions centre in Chennai has begun operations in may and will serve as hub for other Nokia operations centres all over the world. It is natural for Nokia to strengthen its base in thefastest growing telecom market in the world. But observers also feel that this move to concrete its commitment to to India as it has lost market share to Korean rivals Samsung and LG Electronics in India. It is the latest investment by Nokia in the market, continuing a decade-long relationship that started with the first-ever cellular call in India, which was made on a Nokia mobile phone and a Nokia-deployed network. Rajeev Suri, Senior Vice P resident, Asia Pacific (Networks) at Nokia has recently stated in Singapore: “The managed services will be led globally from India from July this year. Asish Chowdhary, currently the head of networks in India, will transit as new global head of managed services from India by the end of this year.” “Going forward India will play a pivotal role in Nokia’s Managed Services Success, not only as a large target market but also from delivery and direction perspective,” he said. The managed services division of Nokia runs the telecom networks of service providers as part of the outsourcing agreement. “The solutions centre will sit over other network operations centre that Nokia has all around the world. It will first offer services in India and then gradually to customers in Asia Pacific and other parts of the world,” Suri said.The Network Operations Centre (NOC) runs the telecom networks of service providers from remote locations. At present, operations contributed about 30 per cent of the company’s total revenues and the figure would go up over the next few years, he said. Suri said, Today’s announcements build on Nokia’s recent manufacturing unit launch, and will enable us to create a complete telecom ecosystem in the country, that will address not only local but also global demand. It is also a recognition of the high-quality engineering talent that India offers.??? The firm claims that with its unique Nokia NetAct(TM) network and service management system, Nokia is a leader in this growing market. Besides the announcements at Nokia Connections here, a range of new products, to be launched over the next few quarters, was unveiled. These included five new handsets in the mid-range GSM, CDMA and WCDMA categories. In India, Nokia has cornered around 65% of the GSM mobile handset market (not counting the CDMA market which is dominated by Samsung and LG). Meanwhile, an analyst who works closely with BSNL has indicated that the recent coming together of Nokia and Siemens AG’s telecom equipment businesses has happened at a time when Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd (BSNL)has received bids for 45 million mobile lines, which is clearly the largest deal underway. Of the five companies in the fray for the 45 million line BSNL order – Nokia, Ericsson, Motorola, Siemens and Chinese company ZTE – two have come together. The analyst said there was every likelihood that the combined Nokia-Siemens entity may be able to get a higher share of the contract and put pressure on market leader Ericsson and challenger ZTE. The combined entity may be able to get a higher share of the contract. It also broadens the product portfolio, making it another one source supplier that offers wireline and wireless network products. The new entity is also an attempt to compete with Ericsson and the about to be merged Lucent-Alcatel, he said.

Source-  indiatelecomnews Wireless Mobile Telecom