Sonia to inaugurate ITI-Alcatel plant

Telecom PSU ITI has joined hands with French multinational Alcatel to manufacture mobile equipment at a facility set up in Manak Pura in Uttar Pradesh, which will be inaugurated by Congress president Sonia Gandhi
tomorrow.

ITI's capacity will be enhanced by 3 million GSM mobile
phone lines with an incremental capital expenditure of Rs 7 crore by September 2005. The existing infrastructure of ITI has been augmented with an additional capital expenditure of Rs 38 crore to establish manufacturing capacity of one million lines per annum.

The chairmen of BSNL & MTNL will receive the first consignment of mobile equipment from Sonia Gandhi and telecom minister Dayanidhi Maran, an official statement said today.

The technology provided by Alcatel is general packet radio service (GPRS) compliant and capable of providing all value-added services including migration path to 3G mobile systems.