Huawei to manufacture telecom equipment in India

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New Delhi: The Indian unit of Huawei Technologies plans to manufacture telecommunications equipment in the country and invest about $500 million in its R&D center in five years, said the unit's CEO, Max Yang. Huawei Technologies India has yet to decide on partnering with Indian state-run telecom equipment maker ITI. "Partnering with ITI is one of the ways to manufacture equipment in India. We have some other choices like contract manufacturing] also," he said. In June, ITI had invited initial bids from investors interested in buying a stake in three of its six manufacturing plants in the country. Manufacturing in India will also protect the company from steep anti-dumping duties levied by India on imports of some telecom equipment from China. In December, India said it would levy anti-dumping duties of up to more than three times the value on synchronous digital hierarchy, or SDH, telecommunication transmission equipment imported from China. It said that ZTE will need to pay a duty of 236 percent and Huawei Technologies of 50 percent on such equipment sold in the country. Huawei Technologies India expects revenue "to be stable" in 2010, but sees growth for 2011,Yang said without elaborating. The company's revenue in 2009 was slightly more than $1 billion. The Indian unit hasn't yet received an order from state-run Bharat Sanchar Nigam, which had earlier issued tenders for sourcing telecom equipment to add 93 million lines to its mobile-phone network. India's junior Telecommunications Minister, Gurudas Kamat, said in July that Huawei's bids for equipment supply to BSNL's western and eastern regions hadn't been opened due to security guidelines. The federal Home Ministry and the Intelligence Bureau have raised concerns over the presence of foreign companies "especially from certain countries in the critical and sensitive border areas, that may have national security implications," said Kamat.