ITI retains top slot in telecom turnkey biz

Bangalore, June 11 (UNI) State-owned telecom equipment giant, ITI Ltd, has retained top position in the country's telecom turnkey business with a revenue of Rs 1,401 crore, according to 2007 annual survey by the Indian Communication Industry's 'Voice and Data' (V&D).

With a market share of 38 per cent, ITI was way ahead of GTL (20.3 per cent), HFCL (15.6 per cent), TCIL (8.17 per cent) and UTL (5.3 per cent).

According to the survey, the telecom turnkey industry grew by 30 per cent to Rs 3,668 crore during 2006-07 from Rs 2,837 crore the previous year.

It was expected the Indian telecom subscriber base, including fixed wireless, would touch 265 million by March 2008 and turnkey players were upbeat about the growth.

This was clearly reflected in the order book position of some players. ITI's orders on hand stood at Rs 1,130 crore and turnkey orders were expected to be around Rs 3,480 crore, a company release said here today.

The V&D Survey identified ITI's edge due to its unique solutions backed with strong project management, system engineering and installation and maintenance capacity.

UNI