Sweden’s Ericsson and China’s Vivo are scaling up their respective expansion plans in India to further their commitment to the market. While Ericsson has ramped up its telecom equipment manufacturing facility to support India’s 5G network deployment, Vivo has started exporting smartphones from its local factory and is now mulling over establishing a research and development (R&D) centre.
Ericsson to ramp up production
Ericsson Monday said that its decision to ramp up production capacity and operations with its contract manufacturing partner Jabil, in India will also generate employment opportunities for up to 2,000 people in Pune, India.
“As 5G gets introduced in India, we are ramping up production of our 5G telecom equipment in Pune in a phased manner to support the network deployments of Indian telecom service providers,” said Nunzio Mirtillo, Head of Market Area Southeast Asia, Oceania and India, Ericsson.
Ericsson does not just make equipment for the Indian market; it also exports gear from its Pune facility. Similarly, its European rival Nokia has a factory in Chennai, which the company operates on its own.
“The production in India is part of our global production footprint with a presence across continents. This footprint has enabled us to secure a global, flexible, and resilient supply chain to respond quickly to market and customer needs, whereby India also benefits,” Mirtillo added.
Ericsson is also establishing a technology centre in Pune, which will focus on new products and production engineering to ensure “high-quality standards, testing/integration, and supply preparations on early-phase products, as well as operational support” to ensure efficient 5G development and deployment in India.
Vivo working on “design in India” strategy
Vivo, as reported by the Economic Times, is currently working on its “design in India” strategy to focus more on software and camera engineering along with handset design. The move is not just aimed at better serving the local requirements but also at supporting other markets, which it will cover through its local manufacturing facility.
“Vivo’s next phase of strategy will have design in India as the major component, which will include hardware design and software and camera as prominent areas. It is to not just serve local consumers but to have a global approach. The plan includes engineers to help with software and camera capabilities along with industrial design,” a source was quoted as saying by the publication.
Vivo had in November started exporting from its Greater Noida manufacturing factory and will look at further expanding to cover its newer markets, such as South America, the Middle East, Europe and South Asia.
The publication reported that the Vivo India factory’s role would be determined by the demand coming from these newer markets that the Chinese handset maker has recently entered.
The handset company, however, will closely monitor the cost efficiency for its export expansion in India since it has not availed local production-linked incentive scheme, which is being leveraged by players like Apple and Samsung along with a slew of contract manufacturers. Apart from Vivo, Oppo and Xiaomi are also working on their strategies to ramp up local production capacities to export handsets to other markets. While Oppo makes smartphones on its own, Xiaomi uses Foxconn’s India subsidiary to produce smartphones.
Related article: Indian telcos will quickly monetize 5G investments: Ericsson
Be the first to comment