Processing .....please wait.. 
The article has been forwarded.... 
News >> Technology >>
Competition slashes telecom equipment costs in India
By agencies
|
Monday, 18 April 2005, 19:30 IST
BANGALORE: The gold rush for a share in India's booming telecom equipment market has created unprecedented competition among global suppliers and has brought down line equipment cost significantly, the Telecom Equipment Manufacturers' Association of India (TEMA) said.
Costs per line have come down by 40 percent or $60 from an average of $100 last year, TEMA said.
The competition is expected to intensify further in the run-up to 2007 as domestic service providers line up investments of up to $15 billion to add 150 million more lines over the next two years. Indias requirement could reach as high as $32 billion by 2007, TEMA projected.
Nokia, Alcatel, Ericsson, Siemens are competing for this business aside from Chinas Huawei and ZTE, and Koreas LG.
Huawei has admitted the pressure on the prices. "Competition has intensified in the last year or so even for the Chinese companies. The European and American companies are reacting very fast to price changes," a Huawei spokesperson said.
India is only second to China in terms of the size of telecom equipment market. Telecom equipment includes equipment for switching, optical transport, broadband access, and soft switches, among others.