Ericsson Sets Up R&D and Service Center In India

Telefonaktiebolaget LM Ericsson announced Monday that it is setting up a research and development center and a regional services delivery center in India.

The announcement was made during a visit to India by Ericsson’s president and chief executive officer Carl-Henric Svanberg.

The R&D center in Chennai in south India will do work in the areas of GSM (Global System for Mobile Communications), value-added services, and intelligent networks, according to a company spokesman.

In 2003, Ericsson of Stockholm transferred some 300 staff at its three R&D centers in the country to Wipro Ltd., an outsourcing company in Bangalore, as part of a global cost-cutting strategy.

Wipro will continue to do product development for Ericsson’s requirements worldwide, said the spokesman who added that the focus of the R&D center in Chennai is on the local market. “The Indian market has grown since then, and we do need such a center in India,” he added.

Ericsson also announced Monday that it has set up a Global Services Delivery Center (GSDC) in Gurgaon near Delhi. The GSDC, which addresses the Indian and Asia-Pacific regional markets, includes a network operating center, a product design and customization center, a systems integration competence center, and will also offer support to network operators.

Ericsson already makes GSM radio base stations (RBS) in India at a facility in Kukas, Rajasthan. The first RBS was delivered in March this year. The facility has now been upgraded to include the manufacturing of mobile switching centers and base station controllers.

The GSM RBS has been customized for Indian conditions, such as climatic extremes, prolonged power cuts and voltage fluctuations, the company said. Local manufacturing of the company’s products also ensures easier handling of repair and flexible inventory management, reducing cost to the operators, it added.

Ericsson currently employs over 1,500 people in 22 locations in India, and engages over 3,000 employees from other companies for development, network rollouts, and other services.

By John Ribeiro – IDG News Service (Bangalore Bureau)