G&D to set up SIM card production in India

Giesecke & Devrient (G&D), a supplier of smart card ICs and security chips, disclosed that it is readying a production facility in India to support the country’s booming market with Subscriber Identity Module (SIM) cards for mobile communications and with payment cards.

With a population of 1.1 billion, India is among the world’s fastest growing chip card markets. There are already around 65 million wireless customers with SIM cards in their cellphones, and that number is increasing by around 20 percent annually. The use of payment transaction cards, too, is growing rapidly throughout the country, at a rate of 35 percent per year.

G&D says when working to full capacity, the plant near Delhi will be the largest of its kind in India. Besides SIM cards for mobile communications, the plant will also be producing cards for other applications such as electronic payment and ID cards.

The plant is located in the Noida high-tech industrial zone to the east of Delhi and designed for an annual production capacity of more than 40 million chip cards. Output will also be exported to other countries in Asia. G&D stresses the production facilities will meet the demanding security standards called for by Asian customers and have the appropriate certification of network operators.

“The new factory in Noida will give us a very high degree of flexibility in terms of supplying our customers in India and Asia. This flexibility is particularly important where India’s mobile communications market is concerned, given that the country’s major mobile operators are subdivided into a large number of regional operating companies with highly varying requirements,” said Michael Kuemmerle, G&D group executive for cards and services.

G&D is the second-biggest SIM card supplier in India, and supplies the country’s major mobile network operators, including Idea, MTNL, BSNL and Bharti.

Source- http://www.eetasia.com

Technorati : India, Mobile, SIM
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