Nokia to shift global managed services to India

New Delhi, Jun 19: In a signficant development, Mobile handsetmaker Nokia today announced it is shifting its global managed services business to India and extending its service contract with Hutchison Essar to cover 19 of the operator's 23 circles.

''Nokia managed services will be led globally from India from July 2006,'' company's Country Head for Networks Ashish Choudhary said.

The move underscores Nokia's commitment to tap global services market growth, as well as India's outstanding outsourcing ecosystem and innovation pedigree, he added.

This contract extention of 10 additional circles builds on the initial nine circles, through a five-year contract awarded by Hutchison Essar to Nokia earlier this year.

The contract further strengthens Nokia's position as the leading managed services provider in the country providing services in 27 circles.

Nokia further announced that its first Global Networks Solutions Center (GNSC) in Chennai had started operations, and will eventually serve as the hub for other Nokia operations centers around the world.

The Chennai GNSC offers a wide variety of services including remote care, remote integration, consulting, planning and optimisation, and is currently supporting operators including Bharti Tele-Ventures.

Mr Chowdhary, currently the Country Head for Networks in India, will move over as the new global head of managed services by the end of the year, a company statement said here.

UNI