Siemens to Conquer the Indian Wireless Market

INDIA : With the launch of six new mobile phones, Siemens Information and Communication Mobile (Siemens mobile) intends to conquer the Indian mobile communication market. India is going to develop into Siemens mobile's second most important market in Asia, after China, within only a few years. For this reason Siemens' wireless communications division will significantly expand its activities in that region. This was announced by Lothar Pauly, Board Member of Siemens mobile, at a press conference in New Delhi.

The research and development site in Bangalore was given the global lead for the development of GSM and 3G/UMTS network software. For that reason the number of engineers employed there will be increased from 400 to 500. Furthermore a sales partnership for mobile phones was signed with Tech Pacific, India's biggest IT wholesaler, assuring that Siemens phones will be available in more than 2000 shops throughout India within the next weeks. As a full-line supplier for the complete mobile communication spectrum, Siemens mobile is already supplying GSM infrastructure to all major Indian mobile operators. The company is already the market leader in the popular field of prepaid technology.

Telecommunication business in India enjoys a great tradition at Siemens, dating back to the construction of the first Indo-European telegraph line from London to Calcutta in 1867. Today, Siemens mobile is part of the Siemens group, which has been present in India for more than 130 years. Mobile communication facilities are located in Mumbai, New Delhi and Bangalore. The outstanding education of Indian software engineers is the reason Siemens mobile located a Research and Development Center in Bangalore. "Bangalore is one of the top development locations worldwide for Siemens mobile. And it will be getting even more responsibility in the future: We're going to be developing software here for location based services and multimedia applications that will then be employed in GSM and 3G/UMTS networks throughout the world. This means that India is making a major contribution to our strategy of sparking the market as a supplier of end-to-end solutions," explained Pauly.

As a partner to mobile operators, Siemens is also embracing close partnerships in India: The company is collaborating with all major GSM providers including Bharti, Hutchison-Essar, BSNL, BPL, Spice and ADIL. In fiscal 2002, Siemens supplied GSM infrastructure valued at more than EUR 100 million to India. In addition to the company's strong number-two position in the core network segment, its stated objective is to now also win significant market share as a supplier to the country's radio networks.

Siemens also sees sales opportunities in connection with GSM-Railway (GSM-R), the wireless communication platform for rail traffic. With a total of 63,000 kilometers of rail lines, India has one of the world's largest rail systems, which is to be equipped with GSM-R. The main purpose of this GSM technology version is to increase the safety of Indian rail traffic. Siemens mobile is the world market leader in GSM-R.

With the introduction of six new phone models, Siemens mobile intends to interest design and styling oriented Indians in mobile phones from Siemens. In addition to the entry-level A55 phone, the mobile phone manufacturer will also be selling further phones in India that offer high-quality styling and high-end technology, like the SL55, S55, CL50, M55 and the SX1 smartphone. Several devices are equipped with Hindi-language menu. With this broad portfolio the company intends to serve all target groups in this fast-growing market. Pauly announced a partnership for this purpose with Tech Pacific, India's largest IT distribution company, who will roll out a nationwide sales and service distribution network of over 2000 retail outlets assuring that Siemens phones will be available throughout India very quickly.

A little more than one percent of all Indians, currently a total of 13 million people, are mobile phone users today. The market has doubled within a year, and an increase of nearly 100 percent is also being forecast for the current year. The market is presently growing by some 500,000 new customers each month. By 2005, around 50 million Indians will be communicating the mobile way. Pauly: "India is a fantastic market for Siemens. I'm looking forward to how we're going to develop together."