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NT Bureau
Chennai, Mar 14:

        Mobile handset maker Nokia has said that it was progressing ahead of its 4-year commitment of $150 million investment for its manufacturing plant at Sriperumbudur.

        On the occasion of first anniversary of its India operations, the company had reached a shipment volume of 25 million handsets as of December 2006. The manufacturing plant currently employs 3,800 people as against the projected 2,000 at the beginning of 2006.

        As part of $150 million investment, the factory is expanding the current floor space from 30,000 to 53,000 sq metre to keep pace with growing demand for mobile handsets in the Indian market.

        In a related move, Nokia has appointed Sachin Saxena as its new director of India Operations who would look after the manufacturing plant at Sriperumbudur. He takes over from Jukka Lehtela who has played a key role in building not only the Nokia Telecom Park but also been instrumental in building the telecom ecosystem in Sriperumbudur.

        Prior to this assignment, Sachin was at LG Electronics. He has got over 17 years of experience from Hindustan Lever, Whirlpool and more recently from LG Electronics.

        'Nokia has played a pioneering role in driving the adoption of cellular technology in India. Over the years, we have consolidated our presence as we have a long-term commitment to India,' said D Shivakumar, vice president and managing director, Nokia India .

        'It is a moment of pride for all of us at Nokia to have been instrumental in creating a robust manufacturing facility in Sriperumbudur. Today the ecosystem at the Nokia Telecom Park is coming together with several global component manufacturers expected to start operations by mid 2007,' said Jukka Lehtela.

        On the appointment of Sachin Saxena as the new director of India Operations, Lehtela added, 'Over the last 15 months we have developed a strong team and we are confident that Sachin with his rich experience will lead our India operations to its next logical high.'

        'Nokia is seen as a pioneer in bringing high-end manufacturing to India and I look forward to an exciting phase ahead,' said Sachin Saxena, director-India Operations.

        The Nokia manufacturing facility was formally inaugurated in March 2006 and ever since, played a key role in enabling Chennai to become the telecom hub of the country. The Nokia Telecom Park is spread over 210 acres and has seven global component makers already signed up to establish their presence. They are expected to commence opera-tions at the park by mid-2007.

        Some of the components makers who would be setting up their facilities include Salcomp, Aspocomp, Foxconn, Perlos, Laird, Jabil and Wintek. Nokia currently uses 80 per cent of the production for domestic consumption.

        The Nokia Telecom Park has the potential to employ 20,000 people by 2008 when it is expected to become fully operational.

        At the community front, Nokia is working with students in and around Sriperumbudur to impart IT education and life skills to them.

        India is currently the third largest market for Nokia in terms of volumes and is poised to emerge as the second largest market by 2010 or even sooner.

        The Nokia Telecom Park is the 15th global manufacturing plant for the Finland-based handset maker. Nokia is the first equipment vendor to begin commercial production of both devices and network equipment at its manufacturing facility in Sriperumbudur, Chennai.