Nokia to manufacture wireless phones in India

Finland's Nokia Corp. announced it has decided to set up a manufacturing plant for mobile devices at Chennai in southern India costing $100 to 150 million. This will be the company's tenth mobile product production facility globally.

"Establishing a new factory in India is an important step in the continuous development of our global manufacturing network. We selected Chennai to be the location for the factory thanks to the availability of skilled labor, friendly business environment, support from the state government, good logistics connections and overall cost-efficiency," said Pekka Ala-Pietila, Nokia's president, in a statement.

Construction of the manufacturing unit will start in April and production is expected to begin in the first half of 2006. Nokia will ramp up production at the factory gradually, with the work force expected to reach 2,000 when production is in full swing.

Mobile penetration in Asia Pacific is expected to be a major contributor to the global mobile subscriber base surpassing the two billion mark by the end of 2005. India's wireless phone services business is booming, and this has apparently caused Nokia to locate a new facility in this country.<.p> Korea's LG has announced it would set up a wireless phone manufacturing unit in Pune in western India, while Samsung too is said to be considering starting phone manufacturing in India.

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