The Hindu Business Line : Ericsson plans to invest $500 m over 5 years

HUGE POTENTIAL: Mr Carl Henric Svanberg, President & CEO, Ericsson, and Mr Vikram Tiwathia, Chief Information Officer, CII, at the CII-CEOs Forum in the Capital on Thursday. - Ramesh Sharma

New Delhi , Jan 18

Ericsson on Thursday said that it would invest $100 million annually over the next five years in India in a bid to address the huge demand for telecom gear.

"We will be investing $100 million annually for the next five years. The figure could go up depending on the growth in the sector," said Mr Mats Granryd, President, Ericsson India and Sri Lanka.

With as many as seven telecom operators looking to expand their network across the country, the demand for equipment has been growing exponentially. A number of other telecom manufacturers including Cisco, Nokia, Alcatel-Lucent and Motorola have announced significant investments in India.

As per the estimates of Department of Telecom, investments worth $2 billion are expected in the next few years.

Speaking at the CII-CEOs forum, Ericsson's global CEO Mr Carl-Henric Svanberg said: "The Indian telecom market has grown more than double in last five years and we have a lot of activity here."

He added that mobile broadband using third generation technologies was the next big revolution.

"We see tremendous growth in data traffic in India. A cell-phone is not simply a phone today - it is a radio, camera and even an office. In the future, more and more people will experience the Internet through handsets."

Mr Granryd said that in India, lack of basic civic utilities, low wireless coverage, uncertainty over spectrum availability and inadequate infrastructure, especially power, are the big obstacles.

"However, these can be overcome if there is infrastructure sharing, use of low-cost solutions tailor-made for local people and use of alternative fuels."

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