India, the fastest-growing and second-largest market for mobile infrastructure, has become a battleground between Ericsson and Nokia Siemens Networks (NSN) as to which is the leading supplier.
Ericsson, according to a study conducted by the Voice & Data journal, saw its Indian revenue fall by 29.4 per cent to 61.73 billion rupees (€966.8 million) in the 12 months to March 2011, while NSN's only dropped 5 per cent to 61.77 billion rupees (€967.4 million).
While NSN can now claim to be the leading provider, albeit by a fraction, all equipment suppliers experienced a rough year as the Indian government imposed tighter regulations triggered by fears over security concerns. During the 12-month period, the government stopped mobile operators from placing network upgrade contracts while it quizzed vendors over their privacy and security policies.
Of note, the Chinese manufacturers, Huawei and ZTE, were stopped completely from supplying any equipment for several months which hit their results accordingly. Huawei's revenue, according to industry data, fell by 23.5 per cent while ZTE's suffered only a 12.8 per cent decline.
For more:
- see this Reuters article
Related Articles:
Ericsson profits up over 200%, boosted by broadband demand
Vodafone profits in India, pushes value of mobile in emerging markets
Huawei sues ZTE for patent infringement in Europe
NSN closes Motorola deal, priced dropped to $975m