18 December 2004
Hyundai Telecom to set up $50 m production unit
HT Corporate Bureau New Delhi,
CLOSE ON the heels of Nokia unveiling plans to set up a handset plant in India, Hyundai India Telecom Ltd on Friday said that it will set up a manufacturing unit in the country with an investment of $50 million.
The company also plans to make India its global R&D hub and is in talks with leading software companies for joint ventures in mobile applications and handset software. The research facility would help in creating a cutting edge software design and userfriendly applications.
Hyundai is currently scouting for locations to set up the plant. The initiative will give provide direct employment to nearly 1000 employees, Hyundai India Telecom vice-chairman & MD Vijay Singh said. "We intend to manufacture and market an entire range of mobile handsets - GSM and CDMA -- at the facility. 50 per cent of the production will be sold in the domestic market with the remaining in overseas markets like Asian and SAARC regions", he added.
The production facility with five assem bly lines that will have a capacity of 4000 handsets daily and an annual capacity of 12 lakh phones in the first year. "It can be scaled up to triple the capacity depending on the demand", Singh said.
Hyundai Telecom has already entered into a marketing tie-up with State Trading Corp to sell its handsets here. The company believes that it can meet the growing mobile handset demand of this country and create newer segments and markets by these moves.'