Ericsson, govt in talks to deepen telecom manufacturing supply chain; eyes India as key export hub

Ericsson, govt in talks to deepen telecom manufacturing supply chain; eyes India as key export hub

Ericsson is holding active consultations with the Indian government to strengthen the domestic telecom manufacturing ecosystem, with a focus on increasing local value addition and developing a full-fledged component supply chain.

The company said it has already begun producing passive antennas in India in partnership with VVDN Technologies, positioning the country as one of only four global export hubs for such equipment.

“The minister has been very supportive. We have a common direction to increase the value added in India and are seeking support to bring together an ecosystem of suppliers so that more components can be made locally,” Andres Vicente, Head of Southeast Asia, Oceania, and India, told Moneycontrol.

“We’ve agreed to actively support this effort by encouraging our global suppliers to set up operations in India, and that process is already underway,” the company said. “We’re asking our global partners to come with us, and that process is already underway.”

Currently, India joins China, Romania, and Mexico as the only markets manufacturing and exporting Ericsson’s antenna equipment. However, the executive said India still imports several key components — such as filters, batteries, and enclosures — which limits competitiveness compared with other manufacturing bases.

“We need a holistic plan that covers the entire value chain — not just final assembly — to make India a true alternative for global telecom manufacturing,” he said.

The government, which recently rolled out its Electronics Component Manufacturing (ECM) policy for handsets and laptops, is now exploring a similar framework for telecom equipment to boost indigenous production and export capability.

The new initiative is expected to build on India’s production-linked incentive (PLI) schemes to expand the component ecosystem for base stations, antennas, and network gear.

Meanwhile, Ericsson’s India operations are seeing strong momentum in deployment activity following major network deals with Bharti Airtel and Vodafone Idea. The company is deploying 5G infrastructure in Delhi for Vi and continues to expand its managed services partnership with Airtel, including work on core networks and physical access systems.

Looking ahead, Ericsson sees 2026 as a potential inflection year for India’s telecom industry as operators prepare to deploy standalone (SA) 5G networks and mid-band spectrum to enable new use cases such as network slicing and differentiated connectivity.