Motorola to start manufacturing in Chennai

08 June 2006

Motorola has announced its plans to open a manufacturing facility near Chennai.

This follows the naming of India by the company as the headquarters for its High Growth Markets initiative late last year.

Motorola's initial investment would be around $30 million, to be hiked eventually $100 million. The plant is expected to open next year and will manufacture handsets and wireless equipment for its Networks & Enterprise portfolio.

Motorola expects to ramp up sales of low-cost handsets as part of its strategy to connect "the next billion" wireless subscribers in emerging markets, for which it has signed a distribution agreement with Bharti Cellular Ltd.

Meanwhile, Nokia which holds a whopping 70 per cent of the Indian handsets market, has also set up manufacturing facilities in Chennai.

Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd. (BSNL) is planning to spend around $4.5 billion to upgrade its wireless networks and is in the process of inviting bids. In case it is awarded to Motorola, it would put Motorola in a better position for future network upgrade to 3G by BSNL.

Motorola has six R&D centres in India, employing around 3,000 engineers. The vendor also said this week it plans to turn Singapore into its global supply-chain hub, investing an additional $60 million.