Swedish telecom equipment maker Ericsson plans to hire close to 1,500 people for ramping up its global services delivery centre in India by this year-end.

Ericsson currently employs close to 3,500 people for this function in the country.

Global services delivery centre is used by Ericsson to manage mobile operators' networks in various countries. The centre in India is among the largest the company has around the world.

“India is a very important market for us and is growing. Demand continues to be good and if all goes as per plan, we would add more than 1,500 people by the end of December this year,” said Mr Magnus Mandersson, Senior Vice-President and Head of Global Services, Ericsson.

Apart from India, Ericsson has global delivery centres in Romania, China and Mexico and has more than 45,000 people in this unit.

“The talent pool in India is also good, which helps us service our customers globally through the Indian centre,” Mr Mandersson added at the Ericsson sponsored event. Other equipment suppliers such as Nokia Siemens have also made India its hub for global services due to the low cost of operations and availability of engineers. Besides, the concept of outsourcing management of telecom networks to equipment vendors was pioneered by Indian operators.

R&D facilities

Ericsson is also leveraging its R&D facilities in the country for technology development. “The R&D centres in India is very important to our global vision for moving towards a networked society. Though I cannot give you any specifics of what we are doing, our R&D units in India are at the forefront of our strategy,” said Mr Hakan Eriksson, Group CTO and President, Ericsson Silicon Valley.

At the event, sponsored by Ericsson, the company along with management consultancy Arthur D. Little released a report which shows that cities with a high level of ICT maturity are better able to manage issues such as environmental management, infrastructure, public security, health-care quality and education.

Best-performing cities

The three best-performing cities presented in the index – Singapore, Stockholm and Seoul – have successfully met many social, economic and environmental targets by making extensive investments in ICT.

Singapore, for example, is aggressively driving innovation in e-health, and is a pioneer in traffic-congestion management. Stockholm sees ICT as a major enabler for research collaboration and knowledge transfer, while Seoul is using ICT to realise green high-tech initiatives. The index also suggests actions for low-ranking cities, which are encouraged to provide digital access and ICT training for the underprivileged parts of their populations to reduce the digital divide.

The top-10-ranking cities in the Networked Society City Index are: Singapore, Stockholm, Seoul, London, Paris, New York, Tokyo, Los Angeles, Shanghai and Beijing. Delhi and Mumbai are at 20 and 18 ranks, respectively.

Mr Mathieu Lefevre, Executive Director of the New Cities Foundation, says: “The ‘networked city' is here, and it will significantly impact the life of a growing share of the world's population. Ericsson – as demonstrated by this important new Networked Society City Index – has grasped the significance of this mega-trend, and is positioned at the forefront of thinking on tomorrow's urban connected planet.”

Related Topics
comment COMMENT NOW