Ericsson scales up 5G gear production in India, to create 2K jobs

Telecom networking company Ericsson on Monday announced it is scaling up the production capacity and operations with its partner Jabil in Pune to meet the needs of 5G network deployments in the country.

The production ramp-up will expand operations with high-technology production and will also generate employment for around 2,000 people.

"As 5G gets introduced in India, we are ramping up production of our 5G telecom equipment in Pune in a phased manner, to support the network deployments of Indian telecom service providers,a said Nunzio Mirtillo, Head of Market Area Southeast Asia, Oceania and India, Ericsson.

The production in India is part of our global production footprint with a presence across continents, he added.

Ericsson, the first telecom vendor to set up manufacturing in India in 1994, manufactures equipment with Jabil that includes 4G and 5G radios, RAN Compute as well as microwave products.

Ericsson India is also establishing a technology centre that will focus on new product introduction and production engineering to secure high-quality standards, testing/integration, and supply preparations on early-phase products, as well as operational support to ensure efficient 5G development and deployment in the country.

"With our experience of deploying 5G in more than 50 countries, we look forward to the opportunity of helping our partners to seamlessly transition to 5G," says Mirtillo.

Ericsson's ultra-lightweight, "Massive MIMO" antenna integrated radios "AIR 3219" and "AIR 3268" will be produced there initially to support the 5G deployments.

The Swedish company said it will also work with local ecosystem partners to support its 5G production in the country.

Commercial launches of 5G networks are underway in the country with deployments having commenced following the spectrum auctions in July.

Bharti Airtel and Reliance Jio have selected Ericsson as their partner to deploy 5G networks in the country.

According to the Ericsson Mobility Report that came out last month, 5G subscriptions in the India region are expected to rapidly increase to reach around 690 million by the end of 2028.