Nokia Siemens Networks, one of the biggest telecommunications companies in the world, is to expand its manufacturing facility in Chennai, making it the firm’s biggest in Asia.
NSN’s head of operations, Herbert Merz, said the factory in China is currently the company's largest in Asia, but the Chennai facility could overtake it in a year.
The Chennai facility has played a key role in enabling Indian operators to roll out their 3G networks quickly, Ashish Chowdhary, head of India and customer operations East said.
"The expansion will strengthen India's position as one of our major manufacturing hubs in the Asia Pacific, in addition to supporting the growth of India's growing telecom sector," he added.
"Last year, we have procured close to $300 million worth of equipments from the Indian suppliers,” he pointed out.
NSN currently serves 10 major Indian telecom networks, as well as the defence sector, railways, and others.
The site in Oragadam (Chennai) was commissioned in 2007, with NSN investing $70 million and creating 500 jobs, since expanding to 1250. 15% of the company's global work force is based in Chennai.
