Nokia to shift network services to India

 (The correspondent's trip to Singapore was sponsored by Nokia )

 Nokia to expand deal with Hutch to 10 new circles

 Nokia today announced a five-year deal with Hutchison Essar for managing its telecom infrastructure in 10 new circles. "With today's announcement, the number of circles in which Nokia is managing network for Hutch would go up to 19," Ashish Chowdhary, country head for networks division of Nokia in India, said.

Nokia had signed a similar deal with Hutch in January for nine of its
existing circles.

As per the new deal, Nokia will take on board an additional 200 Hutchison Essar employees in addition to the 600 it has already taken on it its services unit.

Asim Ghosh, managing director of Hutchison Essar, said: "By extending our contract with Nokia to cover additional circles, we will free additional resources for what is required by the intense growth in the Indian markets."

The deal for 10 circles announced today includes the three existing circles of Maharashtra, Kerala and Tamil Nadu and seven greenfield circles in Jammu and Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Bihar, Orissa, Assam and the North East. In the greenfield circles, Nokia will build and run the infrastructure for Hutch from scratch.

 Nokia-Siemens float 50:50 JV

 Nokia and Siemens announced plans to merge Nokia's networks business group with Siemens' carrier-related operations to form a new company, named Nokia Siemens Networks.

With estimated annual revenue touching euro 15.8 billion and 60,000-odd employees to start with, the joint venture will offer a comprehensive portfolio of Gen-Next network convergence products including IMS, 2G GSM/EDGE access, 3G WCDMA/HSDPA access, extensive mobile core, fixed broadband, IPTV and WiMAX.

"We believe the partnership with Siemens is the most effective way to build the scale and broad product portfolio necessary to compete globally and create value for shareholders," said Olli-Pekka Kallasvuo, CEO of Nokia. He will also serve as chairman of Nokia Siemens Networks.

Klaus Kleinfeld, CEO of Siemens, said: "This combination creates a leading industry player with immediate strength, excellent potential for growth and well-positioned to improve future profitability."