Ericsson on Saturday, 25th February 2006, announced the opening of its first R&D facility in India and Global Service Delivery Center (GSDC) at Chennai, one year after it set up its manufacturing unit for Radio Base stations in Jaipur. The new Ericsson facility was inaugurated by Thiru Dayanidhi Maran, Union Minister of Communications & Information Technology, in the presence of Inga Eriksson Fogh, the Swedish Ambassador to India.

Mr. Dayanidhi Maran, said:  "I congratulate Ericsson on having chosen Chennai to set up its first R&D facility and GSDC in India. It is a reiteration of the company's commitment to India. I have visited the manufacturing plant at Jaipur and am proud to say that Ericsson is creating world-class research, manufacturing and service delivery capabilities in In dia." Mr. Maran further asked Ericsson, to consider setting up a manufacturing plant in Chennai.

Mats Granryd, Managing Director, Ericsson India, said: "We have been in the country for over a hundred years now. The Ericsson R&D facility in Chennai is part of our global R&D set-up to offer cutting edge solutions to our global customer base. The GSDC will focus on providing Service Integration capabilities for complex telecom projects to our global customers."  He also told newspersons that the R&D facility and th e global service delivery centre would together have about 500 engineers in a few years.

Ericsson plans to have about 100 engineers in the research and development (R&D) facility and a global service delivery centre in Chennai by 2006 end.

The R&D facility will focus on developing value-added applications for the pre-paid and multimedia segments. The global service delivery centre will cater to global customers, providing service integration capabilities for complex telecom projects.

The opening of the R&D facility is an important element of Ericsson's four building blocks for the company's operations in India.

Lars Orlander has just moved from Stockholm to take charge of the facility. The R&D facility as well as the GSDC is currently housed at Mylapore, Chennai, but will move to larger premises in the IT Corridor sometime later in the year.

Fatima Pais
Manager - Internal Communications
Marketing & Strategy