Ericsson bets on localisation to deepen its India footprint; eyes country as manufacturing hub

New Delhi: Swedish telecommunications equipment supplier Ericsson is actively working with the government to encourage its component suppliers to establish manufacturing bases in India in a bid to increase local value addition, Andres Vicente, CEO, South-East Asia, Oceania and India, Ericsson, told ET.

He said the company has done an assessment of all the components it requires and the availability of those components in India.

"What we have done is to reach out to other suppliers to see if they can analyse how to localise the production in India. We will be more than happy to support them in that journey, and this is where we are cooperating hand in hand with the government," Vicente said.


However, the final decision to localise rests with the suppliers, he added.

"We are considering India not only as a market but also as a manufacturing hub. We are not only producing from India, but also exporting from India," Vicente said.

Ericsson is working with Gurugram-based VVDN Technologies to manufacture antennas for export to markets such as Europe.

"They are the latest generation antennas that are ready for advanced AI and will be exported all over the world, but mainly to Europe. We have already exported more than 15,000 antennas and more than 9 million components from India to Europe," Vicente said.

Ericsson is also scaling up its design capabilities in India. Vicente said the company spends more than 20% of its revenue on research and development (R&D). A significant chunk of that budget is deployed in the Indian market, where the company has R&D offices in Chennai and Bengaluru.

"We have more than 200 professionals working in Bengaluru in ASIC (application-specific integrated circuits) design, and this is a competitive advantage for the company...We are linking this competitive advantage to India, and by bringing these capabilities here, I think that we are making an enormous contribution to creating the full ecosystem of India as a key producer," the executive added.

Commenting on Vodafone Idea's plans to boost its network capacity, Vicente said Ericsson has been a loyal partner to the telecom operator in its expansion plans despite the telco's financial struggles in the recent past.

"I think that the settlement that they did in order to remove the uncertainty around the spectrum fees with the government gives them a predictable scenario where they can have access to funding that will be provided by the banking industry," Vicente said.

He said Ericsson, which supplies equipment for terrestrial networks, does not see satellite communications as posing a threat, but instead as a complementary technology which can help help extend the connectivity to remote areas.

The company is currently developing standards for telecom radios that make satellites compatible directly with handsets and other devices.