TVSIC to invest Rs 200 cr in telecom infrastructure

New Delhi, May 24 (UNI) TVS Interconnect Systems (TVS ICS), part of the 3 billion TVS Group , today announced it will pump in Rs 200 crore this year for building towers for telecom operators.

The company which provides solutions to the telecommunications and enterprise networking segment will be providing infrastructure on a Build-Operate-Lease (BOL) basis.

''We are planning to build around 250 towers with each costing between 50 to 70 lakhs. These towers will be on a build-operate-lease basis. We will build the infrastructre both in North and South of the country,'' TVS ICS General Marketing (Sales and Marketing Telecom) Biswajit Patnaik told reporters here today.

On a poser on the company's profit Mr Patnaik said ''Our sales turnover for the current fiscal is 120 crores and we expect to double it at 250 crore.'' TVSICS will also be investing over 10 crore in its new 22 acre plant in Madurai which will be increased to 25 crore over the next two years.

''Our new plant in Madurai which produces CDMA and GSM antennas will be fully functional within the next 90 days. We will be marketing the antenna in collaboration with Argus Technologies Pty Ltd, an Australia based company. Initially we are investing Rs 10 crore and will increase it to Rs 25 crore over the next two years,'' TVSICS Chief Technical Officer R Guruprasad said.

''We will have also a testing facility in our plant by July, with the Semi Knock Down (SMD) production to start by this September. We also have signed a MoU with Thyagraj College of Engineering for Research and Development (R&D),'' he added.

The company also received an order from Reliance India Mobile (RIM) for 2864 antennas at a total order value of 5.5 crore.

TVISC which has already entered the Bangladesh and Sri Lankan market is now geared up to enter Dubai by September.

In Bangladesh they have begun rollout with wireless solutions for Grameen Phones, a private telecom operator. The work for the Sri Lankan market is scheduled to begin next month.

The company along with Seimens Information Systems has won the order for providing netwrk infrastruture for the Bangalore and Hyderabad International Airports and are now vying for Mumbai.

UNI MP ARB BST1940