Nokia Siemens sees growing opportunity here

Shirajiv Sirimane

MOBILE MARKET: Sri Lanka telecommunication market is growing and it’s a very important country for Nokia Siemens Networks, Head of Asia-Pacific Region, Nokia Siemens Networks Rajeev Suri said.

He said that due to this they have set up an office in Sri Lanka last April and invested more in the country. Sri Lanka is expected to increase its current connectivity from 29 percent to around 40 percent in the next two years. “We see a growing opportunity here,” he said.

Nokia Siemens Networks new solution, Village Connection, for affordable rural connectivity and coverage is ideal for new growth markets like Sri Lanka. This offers an easy concept to build rural connectivity village by village, enabling an innovative franchise-based business model between an operator and local village entrepreneurs.

The mobiles were introduced to Sri Lanka in the early 1990’s and it overtook the fixed lines in 2002.

In 2002 there were 430,000 mobile users and it crossed the one million mark in 2003. By the end of last year there were 5,412,496 uses. Today there are 1, 884,76 fixed line users.

The Nokia Siemens Networks Village Connection solution supports GSM based voice and SMS services, including roaming and connection to the outside world and would benefit many people.

These solutions would be ideal for mobile and fixed line operators as it comprises GSM access points located in villages and regional access centers.

A village would typically host one access point module comprising GSM radio, power and IT hardware and software components. The access point only requires simple installation and powering can be done, for instance, by solar energy.

The novel Nokia Siemens Networks Village Connection allows transferring responsibility for network and business functions to a local level, building cost-effective connectivity village by village.

It can employ local people to manage access within each village, or local entrepreneurs may license the mobile access rights for their surrounding area. The solution will be available in 2008.