Nokia makes 20 mn handsets; PM, Sonia visit unit

Sriperumbudur, Nov 4: Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Congress President Sonia Gandhi today visited Nokia's manufacturing facility here and handed over commemorative Nokia handsets to two of its earliest employees as the company reached the milestone of manufacturing 20 million handsets.

After participating in the foundation stone-laying ceremony of the Automotive Testing Centre at Oragadam near here and visiting the memorial of former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi, Dr Singh and Ms Gandhi arrived at Nokia's facility here.

The company achieved the feat of making so many handsets in a record 11 months since it began commercial production in January this year.

On the occasion of Dr Singh and Ms Gandhi's visit today, Nokia announced it would be shipping its 20 millionth mobile handset from its facility this November.

'This achievement is a reflection of Nokia's success in creating a world class manufacturing facility in India and scaling it up to cater to the burgeoning demand of the fourth largest telecom market in the world,' a company statement here said.

In keeping with this strong business momentum, the Nokia India factory currently employs 3600 people as against the projected 2000 in the beginning of the year, the statement said. The Ambassador of Finland, Asko Numminen, Tamil Nadu Governor S S Barnala, Union Communication and Information Technology Minister Dayanidhi Maran and D Shivakumar, Vice-President and Country General Manager, Customer and Market Operations, Nokia India, were present when Dr Singh and Ms Gandhi visited the facility.

Congratulating Nokia on its milestone, Mr Maran, who played a vital role in bringing the Finnish giant to the state, said 'I see the seeds of liberalisation bearing results as initiatives like these are helping India integrate itself into the global economy.' Nokia has played a pivotal role in driving the telecom revolution in India and today it was fuelling economic development of the region by providing meaningful employment opportunities through creation of a vibrant telecom manufacturing ecosystem, he said.

Mr Maran said the facility was developed in the shortest possible time because of support from the Centre and state governments.

The Nokia manufacturing facility was formally inaugurated in March this year and played a pivotal role in enabling Chennai to become the telecommunication manufacturing hub for the country. The Nokia Telecom Park spread over 210 acres and has six global component manufacturers already signed up and expected to commence operations within the Park by the middle of next year.

These include Salcomp, Aspocomp, Foxconn, Perlos, Laird and Jabil. The Nokia Telecom Park would house a total of eight global suppliers and had the potential to employ 20,000 people by 2008 when it would be fully operational, the statement said.

On the momentous occasion of crossing the symbolic 20 million mark, Mr Jukka Lehtela, Director, India Operations, said 'it is a source of great pride for us that Nokia has been able to achieve the milestone of manufacturing the 20 millionth ''Made in India'' handset in a short period of 11 months'.

This achievement was a result of driving operational efficiencies through global best practices and standards, he said, adding, Chennai had proved ideal for setting up a manufacturing facility given the large pool of skilled resources and conducive business environment.

Nokia was committed to bring the benefits of economic growth to the region by developing a robust telecom ecosystem, he added.

'It has been an exciting 11 months with many challenges and successes. When we started production, our target was to meet domestic requirements. However, today we are already exporting to South East Asian countries. On every metric, we have seen tremendous growth', said Mr Lehtela.

UNI